In this project, I pursue an excavation of Fathi Mahmoud’s personal narrative, monumental artistic works, and industrial footprint, in order to trace a political and economic history of this pivotal era of Egypt’s industrial awakening. Ultimately, I explore the space between an object and its history, a cup of tea and a national narrative. 

In 1942, Fathi Mahmoud opened the first ceramic factory in Egypt in Shubra, Cairo. A prominent sculptor during the Nasserist era, Fathi Mahmoud remains an obscurantist figure in the history of Egyptian artists. His public artworks can be found throughout Egypt, including the “Talaat Harb” statue in Cairo, the “Bride of the Sea” in Alexandria, and the “Monument to the Martyrs” in Cairo University. In addition, he created historic reliefs that decorate some of Egypt’s most important public spaces. 

The project seeks to tell the multifaceted history of Fathi Mahmoud’s legacy - from the industrialization of porcelain production, to the widespread presence of his products in Egyptian households, to his personal artistic trajectory and murky relationship with the Egyptian government and the story of the political and economic shifts in Nasser’s Egypt by tracing the history of a household object, and the story of Fathi Mahmoud, the man behind this object’s vision.