Born in 1963, Ibrahim El Haddad was raised in the Centre of Cairo in Sayed Zeinab, where he lived his whole life until graduating from Cairo’s College of Fine Art, Helwan University in 1990. A year later he moved to Switzerland on a scholarship, only returning to Cairo two weeks before the 2011 revolution. El Haddad has participated in various group and solo exhibitions worldwide.
His figures, which evoke ancient Egyptian physical features, are represented in all their simplicity, stripped of all artifice or pretentiousness, leaving only what is essential, their noble presence and the fragility of their being. The many natural elements in El Haddad’s paintings such as birds, fish and vines are not simply decorative elements, but hold a specific purpose: reinforcing the moment of communion with oneself, but also symbolizes a new found connection with one’s surroundings, especially with Nature, exploited and abused for so long by mankind. Life challenges and everyday hassles pause as we form a deeper connection with the earth, and only in these conditions the essence of a person emerges.