Memorial for Maat 2016

Alaa Awad created this mural, Memorial for Maat, with bright colors and energetic lines. You can almost feel the artist working, layering and scratching into the paint to tell a story. I imagine Awad, brush in hand, channeling the ancient world while speaking to our present. Look at the horses and the chariots, symbols of power and motion, rendered with a kind of raw urgency. The figures are not just painted; they're built, stroke by stroke, each mark adding to the chorus of voices from the past. Awad is in conversation with history here, negotiating its weight and relevance. It makes me think about other artists like Nancy Spero who draw on ancient art to reflect on contemporary social issues. In their own way, they both use this looping back in time to push forward with new ideas. And that’s what art can do, right? It keeps the dialogue going, echoing across centuries, inspiring us to see things anew.