Misr

For MISR مصر, Bureau.Art recreated artist Iman Dabbous’ Cairo studio in New York, transporting the images, objects, textiles, and sounds of her working environment in Zamalek into the exhibition space. After graduating from NYU and spending formative years between New York and London, Dabbous moved to Cairo, her parents’ home country, and set up a studio in Zamalek for a year of experimentation and immersion. MISR مصر presented the body of work that emerged from this period, shaped by her experience of the city from the dual perspective of insider and returnee. Much of the work began with iPhone photographs taken while moving through Cairo and across Egypt, capturing fleeting details of everyday life. Dabbous transferred these images onto fabrics sourced from local markets, layering them with oil paint and gouache. The resulting textile works move between documentation and imagination, preserving the ephemeral textures of a city she was simultaneously rediscovering and making home. Curated by Sarah Daoui, the exhibition took its title from the Arabic name for Egypt and its form from Dabbous’ studio at 30 Shagarat al Dur Street in Zamalek. Postcards, curtains, textiles, car covers, lights, drawings, sketches, and experimental materials from her environment were installed alongside the finished works. A soundscape by Jade Croo, composed from recordings of Dabbous’ daily life in Cairo, brought another layer of the city into the space. Rather than presenting Cairo from a distance, MISR مصر invited visitors into the year Dabbous spent living and working within it. By reconstructing the studio where this body of work took shape, the exhibition offered an intimate window into an artist in a period of experimentation, and into the contemporary Cairo that shaped it. To mark the opening, Bureau.Art hosted an intimate dinner within the exhibition, bringing artists, collectors, curators, and friends together inside the recreated studio.