Hala Elkoussy: First Story: The Mount of Forgetfulness

The Mount of Forgetfulness refers to Mokattam, a large hill to the east of Cairo. It is from here that Rawi (Arabic for “storyteller”) sees that stories are dying in the wake of unprecedented levels of air pollution and resolves to save them from oblivion.

In his journey, a number of “small” stories unfold, carrying within them references to the modern history of Cairo; a mosaic montage of memories, symbolism and poetry, dance and music. The story is inspired by the long tradition of oral storytelling to music, where unlikely heroes overcome obstacles by adhering to noble values. By appropriating the right to designate heroes, outside defunct definitions, the notion itself is expanded and its surrounding context, economic, political and social conditions, is further highlighted. The world that the characters of the film inhabit has no marked boundaries between fact and fiction. The starting point is the real that is “polished” to offer alternatives for how the topography of the city can be navigated, how its history can be permeated and most crucially how one can negotiate an individual position within the masses, under the overbearing pressures of consumerism, social norms and political apathy.

First story - The Mount of Forgetfulness is part of the larger body of works titled Myths and Legends Room. The first part of the Myths and Legends Room, the Mural, was awarded the Abraaj Capital Prize in 2010.

The Myths and Legends Room attempts to write a parallel history by focusing on the perspective of ordinary people. Crucial indicators on the condition of life are inserted in the margins of the official version, in an attempt to counterbalance the mega narratives of the State and Media. Unlike the “official history”, the Myths and Legends Room is fragmented in its structure, with vignette-like stories that open up possibilities for different interpretations and further disrupt the production of a unilateral stable meaning.

Hala Elkoussy was born in Giza in 1974. She studied at the American University before completing an MA in Image and communication at Goldsmiths College, University in London in 2001. She lectured on photography in 2002-2003 at the American University in Cairo.  In 2004, she co-founded the Contemporary Image Collective – CiC, an artist-run initiative dedicated to the visual image, based in Cairo. In 2006, she completed a two year residency at the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.  

Elkoussy’s work delves into intimate and overlooked sides of communal living to highlight the underlying dynamics at play within the complex urban structure that is Cairo.    
 
Recently Elkoussy’s work was exhibited in Goteborg Konsthall, Sweden,the 9th Sharjah Biennial, Kunsternes Hus, Oslo, The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. In 2010, Elkoussy was a recipient of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. Hala Elkoussy
lives and works in Amsterdam (NL) and Cairo (EG).