Samo Shalaby
CAIRO/DUBAI/LONDON
Samo Shalaby’s paintings create worlds in which no desire or fear is beyond imagining. Masqueraders dance through baroque dreamscapes in his Figurative Theatre series (2021–); a princess faints under the pink light of her chambers in The Other Woman (2023); thick, plush curtains of silk and velvet are omnipresent, as if Shalaby wants us to question his theatricality. Is this only for show, or does something more sinister lie beneath?
The Egyptian-Palestinian artist often draws inspiration from his multifaceted upbringing. Raised between Cairo and Dubai (where, with the addition of London, he continues to live and work), Shalaby spent his childhood shadowing his
