Egypt

Artist: Johanna Koch

* 1959

Studio: Gebäude 5879, 55126 Mainz-Layenhof

Phone: 06131/ 46 71 96 + 06132/ 65 77 72

Artistic Development:

Since 1985 Actively pursuing Expressionism and Art Therapy

Since 1995 Member of the Berufsverband Bildender Künstler Rheinland-Palatinate

seit 1997 Member of the Essenheimer Art Association

Exhibitions include:

Since 1988: Mainz, Eltville, Frankfurt/Main, Wetzlar, Essenheim, Stadt Zwingenberg

in 2002: - Embassy of the arabian Republik Egypt-Berlin

- Union of arabic Art & Culture Heidelberg

Interpretation

I immersed myself in the artistic portrayal of ancient Egypt – and decided to borrow typical characteristics of the Tutanchamun mask: the creature is endowed with a golden face, holy eyes which look beyond this and the next world, and a valuable headdress.

The goddess Nut is on the stomach, kneeling on the symbol of gold, she is the one who swallows the sun every night, only to give it back in the morning.

Inspired by tomb paintings, I chose to depict these on the "leg pillars", and to subdivide them. On the "calve pillar" two friezes are formed from two Bulls charging one after the other. I am making a reference to the worship of the holy bull, especially in the earlier dynasties. Dancers are painted on the thigh, paying reverence to this god.

On the back a tablet with hieroglyphs displays a statement made by the Pharaoh Ptahhotep, which reads:

"One can never reach the boundaries of art, and no artist is in possession of perfection."

Real understanding among peoples is an art.

In the present political situation, a fair understanding, especially through the north-south divide, hasn't been reached yet. Globalisation forces us into a daily, inescapable, almost invisible uniformity, which we ought to examine and challenge daily, if we wish to be ourselves but at the same time also with the others, in a positive way.

It is something worth fighting for, because it brings us closer to the healing powers of togetherness.

The arts are on their way to finding a good path for reaching this - and on this path, no person, no country, no government is perfect.

Only an encounter with something foreign and unknown to us is what brings us to find ourselves and thus to others as well.

Or, to quote Martin Buber: "Only by encountering the You can the It become an I."

Johanna Koch

Sponsor: Botschaft der Arabischen Republik Ägypten