On 15 April 2025, The Third Line will launch Unraveling, a solo exhibition by Egyptian artist and cultural historian Huda Lutfi. On view until 27 May 2025, the exhibition showcases works from three of her series: When Dreams Call for Silence (2019), Our Black Thread (2020–2021), and Healing Devices (2020-ongoing). It also debuts Lutfi’s previously unshown miniature collages and her latest video work, The Seven-legged Demon of the Night.
Lutfi’s work is deeply rooted in the sociopolitical landscape of her surroundings. In earlier works, she used human figures as a response to the crisis unfolding during moments of political unrest in Egypt. In When Dreams Call for Silence (2019), her approach shifts toward introspection: figures are placed within surreal domestic settings or enveloped in contemplative silence.
This exploration continues in Healing Devices (2020–ongoing), a series of assemblages comprising paper cutouts set against gold or silver backgrounds. Inspired by The Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206), a manuscript by Ismail al-Jazari featuring more than 100 illustrations, the series reflects themes of resilience, healing, and spiritual contemplation. Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, these works are presented alongside Lutfi’s previously unseen collages: early experimentations with form that led to the series’ development.
In Our Black Thread (2020–2021), Lutfi embraces making as a meditative, healing process. What began as an improvised practice — embroidering on used tea bags and car filters — became a body of work defined by materiality, intuition, and ritual. Using a restrained palette of black, white, grey, and off-white, she creates minimalist compositions that evoke introspection and the historical association of craftsmanship with feminine labour.
The Seven-legged Demon of the Night (2025) is a tribute to her mother, Su’ad Hanim ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Wali, a seamstress. Capturing Su’ad’s hands as she mimics sewing and cutting movements during an illness, the piece is interwoven with reflective texts on the significance of sewing in relation to the female body, memory, healing, and kinship.
About the artist
Huda Lutfi (b. 1947, Cairo, Egypt) resides in her hometown. An Associate Professor at the American University (Cairo), she obtained a PhD in Arab Muslim Cultural History from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) in 1983.
Lutfi’s art practice, spanning assemblage, painting, sculpture, installation, collage, and video, is closely tied to her academic research and engages in a continuous dialogue with political and cultural narratives. Her work frequently incorporates female archetypes, addressing themes of history, identity, and contemporary sociopolitical issues in the Arab world. Drawing from diverse influences, including Pharaonic, Coptic, Arab, Mediterranean, Indian, and African cultures, Lutfi integrates symbolic imagery and text into layered compositions. Her use of pop iconography is both direct and abstract, offering sharp critiques of social and political realities.
Lutfi has showcased her art pieces in various exhibitions including autohistorias (Palais des Beaux, Paris, France, 2024); Inside the Black Enclosure, Islamic Arts Biennale (Jeddah, KSA, 2023); Reflections Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa (The British Museum, London, UK, 2021); Reimagined Narratives, Art D’Égypte (Cairo, Egypt, 2019); and Traces (solo) (The Art Centre, Cleveland, Ohio, US, 2014).
Among her accolades, Lutfi received the Grand Prize at the Alexandria Biennial (Alexandria, Egypt, 2014), the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Artist Grant (2009), and the Second Prize at the Biennial for Women Artists of the Mediterranean (Marseille, France, 1996), to name a few. Her artworks are part of several prestigious public collections, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (USA), Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah), and Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts (Amman, Jordan).
To learn more about Unraveling, please visit the official web page of the exhibition.
You might also be interested in exploring Of Dust and Woven Air by Seher Shah and Narrators of Dissonance at 1X1 Art Gallery.
