Islam Safiyyudin Mohamed

Born in Heliopolis, Cairo in August of ’76, Islam, is an Egyptian conceptual and visual artist, and author, who as a child grew up in Kuwait and attended a British school, bridging East and West, during the oil boom in the 1980’s. In his fourth year of med school at Cairo University, Islam realized that anything holding a true resonance with the masses has the potential to heal, not just medicine, and became drawn more towards the media industry, investigative journalism and alternative solutions as a means of expression, or even underlining situations the masses may have not yet pieced together or have no knowledge of

With his first 16mm film ‘Falling into Oneself’ being acquired by Arsenal Gallery of Berlin for international distribution and being featured in Kunstverein’s 16mm festival titled ‘Paradise from Hell’, his 2nd film ‘Acapella’ -also acquired by Arsenal Gallery- was part of the Forum Extended competition of the Berlinale where it had its World Premiere, followed by its Asian Premiere at HKIFF where it was nominated for the Firebird Award [Best Short Film]; the only 2 festivals entered.

He was the Production Manager of "Yallah! Underground" [Winner of Hessian Award] and a character and videographer in "1/2 Revolution", as well as wearing many hats to help artist friends realize their dreams; like Distruktur & Michel Balagué in the film "Triangulum" which premiered at the Berlinale. Distruktur in their film "Al Meraya", Swiss Artist Sandrine Pelletier in her book Gohanameyya and photography, Elmer Kussiac band- Photography & Videography

He has recently published his first Arabic book “ChitChat Underwater” launched in Cairo Book Fair that runs to the 6th of Feb 2023

Beginning his creative career by publishing Sufi poetry in 1999 and 2000 Islam’s experimental films and visual installations explore deconstructing social/ power issues between people and state, reflecting upon the inner turmoil of the basic self and higher spirit. His strong use of iconic, seemingly archaic images of a time past yet quite relevant to contemporary themes of alienation, control, and ultimately, liberation, evoke an uneasy fascination of somehow witnessing an unfolding, long hidden truth. Working in 16mm and Super 8 film and digital mediums, hand developed and edited, Islam presents the films by projecting the films onto large scale sculptures inscribed with messages and anecdotes. Islam's work chronicles Islam’s experiences growing up in Kuwait, its invasion in 1990, his arrival in Egypt up to events and vignettes from the post-Jan uprising and the present moment. With a continuous thread of self-revolution throughout all his work.