Return from Beyond by Mervat Refaat

14 March-14 April 2012. This exhibition, entitled Return from Beyond, features the latest pastel paintings by Mervat Refaat.

On display are 30 pastel coloured paintings of different sizes, which mostly pay homage to women, immortalized in their dreamy, romantic moods. Refaat’s paintings celebrate dreams and were created before as well as after the 25 January Revolution. Her works symbolize a journey inside the self in search of a strange secret.

Born in Minya in 1933, Refaat graduated from the Faculty of Arts in the English Language and Literature Department at the Cairo University in 1954. She studied plastic art in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Helwan University. She held her first solo exhibition in Colombo in 1961, followed by numerous public international shows. She also experimented with portraits, created using water-colours, oils and acrylics. Refaat is known for her unique, brilliant use of pastel colours and is among the very rare artists, who use this art media.