Susan Hefuna is an international artist with an Egyptian and German heritage. Hefuna has exhibited her work, which consists of drawings, videos, photographs, installations and sculptures reflecting intercultural transformation, in London, New York, Venice and Paris.
Hefuna said she liked to work with layered pages in her drawings. She also likes to play with the meanings of words and while doing this reflects the cross-cultural aspects in her art.
(with the courtesy of Pi artworks)
Her current show at Pi Artworks in Istanbul, which runs until the end of December, exemplifies how she deals with cross-cultural codes. Her use of mashrabiyas – small wooden pieces gathered together without glue – shows how Hefuna plays with images and meanings of words.
“Originally, mashrabiyas are from Egypt,” Hefuna said. And one can see mashrabiyas in Istanbul. Mashrabiya, or shanasheel, is the Arabic term given to a type of projecting oriel window enclosed with carved-wood latticework located on the second story of a building or higher. Mashrabiyas were mostly used in houses and palaces but in some public and government buildings as well.
What Hefuna does with mashrabiyas is like a game of hide and seek. She said her work reflected how people look at things. “When you look from far away, you can see what is written on the mashrabiyas, but when you get closer, the words disappear.”
Hefuna’s work reflects experiences in-between cultures and thus she must deal with cross-cultural codes. Her layered drawings reflect the cities in which she lives and draws. The layered drawings also symbolize architecture.
“The places where I live definitely affect and influence my work,” Hefuna said. “I am living half-time in New York and in London. I can do different work in different places; in each culture each thing has different meanings.”
Travelling is an important aspect of Hefuna’s work. “When you travel you are viewing the world from different aspects,” Hefuna said. “It is like always starting a new adventure. When you travel, you are not safe, you are taking a risk. It is like adding a fresh thing for the mind.”
One of her works of art, a project titled “Mana-festo,” was featured at Serpentine Gallery in London in an exhibit called “Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon.”
She collected 190 manifestos from the public of London for the piece. “It is not a ‘manifesto’ but a ‘Mana-festo,’ ‘mana’ being the Arabic word for ‘I,’” Hefuna said.