Upon his return to Cairo with a degree from a French university, a young Egyptian architect Ramses Wisa Wassef saw his native country in a new light. He viewed children as the future of his nation.
In 1952, he decided to set-up a small weaving studio for the boys and girls of al Harania (near Giza) on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital.
In the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, he allowed local children to develop weaving skills that would allow them to develp their full human potential.
“Human freedom never has as much meaning and value as when it allows the creative power of the child to come into action. All children are endowed with a creative power which includes an astonishing variety of potentialities. This power is necessary for the child to build up his own existence.” (-) R.W.W.
Children, some very very young, were encouraged to create works without preconceived ideas relying entirely on their imagination. They would be involved in all aspects of work at hand.
Natural dyes were obtained from plants grown and hand-picked in the centre’s very own garden,
Most of these children, adults by now, continue their art today. At the same centre. Their art is exhibited in museum and private collections around the world.
Their intricate kilims can be purchased in many shops, at auctions and online. The most precious and collectible ones however are those from the early 1950s: children’s kilims – colorful images of homes, mosques, people and animals sketched by unskilled hands against plain cotton yarn.
A.G.
Information for the visitors: Contack Mr. Ikram Nosshi, Director at Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre – Egypt E: inosshi@gmail.com T: +20122 312 1359. Art centre receive visitors daily from 10 am to 4 pm. Monday is a day off.
Archive (1961) photos by Peter Davis courtesy Ramses Wissa Wassef Centre
