Today we’d like to introduce you to Rawan Abbas

Hi Rawan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.

Thank you for having me again! We went over how I started before, I can summarize it by saying that I turned to working with textiles because they allowed me to be more expressive and playful. Fabric can withstand a lot of manipulation and layering of material, and it has the benefit of being universally familiar. Right now I’m working on two interesting projects. One is for Something Else, an international art event that will take place in Cairo in November, and the other is with The Muse, an integrative regional artistic organization based in Sudan and Egypt. Both projects demand that I broaden my subject matter to incorporate the city, in this context, Cairo, which is exactly what I need at this moment. I’ve been reading and attending workshops about learning the built environment. It’s a natural extension of my interests, only much broader and more complex.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Creating something is hardly ever a smooth process all the way. Right now I’m trying to learn as much as I can, reading a lot and engaging in discussions, bouncing ideas with myself and others. Sometimes the visuals come to me first, even before my narrative is fully constructed, other times I arrive at the visual after a long time of contemplation and trials. If I have to name one struggle, and calling it a struggle might be too violent for what it is, it would be actually making the first mark. Sometimes the process and the research hold much more intrigue than studio work, but as an artist, it’s important to know when to stop and move onto the next thing without being cocky about the actual amount of knowledge one has obtained.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I finally managed to find a studio! It’s been a long search and I’m so proud that I have one now since I used to work from home. Moving into a new space mid project is daunting because there are so many pieces at play, if not actual artworks then it’s the system I’m using for my process and how it relates to space. The studio is such a central location to an artist’s practice but it’s where we both work and rest. There’s something pleasurable in existing with your creations and basking in how ideas get transformed and elasticized. I’m curious as to how this change is going to affect my art production, I know for a fact the techniques I use will expand since I now have the space to experiment with dying and large scale printmaking.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?

Oh, plenty. I always say I was lucky as a student because I was taught by some of the best professors my department had to offer. I’m lucky to have gotten spots at residencies and exchange programs, to have made the connections I have now and learned so much about myself and the kind of world I want to contribute to. I try not to think about it too much though, luck isn’t substantial enough to fully rely on, but it would be unfair to claim it never graces me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rawanabbas.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roabbas_/