M HKA Ensembles

° 1963

Born in Caïro (EG), lives in Caïro (EG).

Khaled Hafez was born and raised in the metropolis Cairo. There he lived through Egypt’s shift from closed socialism to capitalism, with all its social, economic, political and military consequences. Also the multicultural nature of Cairo inspires the video artist, painter and writer. In his practice he deals with issues such as time, identity, globalisation, materialism, cultural recycling, the sacred versus consumption, and the three Eastern taboos: sex, politics and religion. Hafez combines icons from Ancient Egyptian religion with images from advertising, pin-ups, comics and current events. For there is great influence of Western culture and media in the Middle East, which leads to insecurity concerning personal identity. Furthermore, since 11 September Arabs have been increasingly identified with terrorism, fanaticism and danger. Hafez shows stereotype images of the Arab or combines Eastern and Western elements. For example, he stimulates the viewer to think about cross-fertilisation between cultures, identity and image. His ironic oeuvre raises many questions, but provides few answers.