Both an artist and educator, Mariam Abdel Aleem, perhaps best known for her printmaking practice, experimented with a variety of media and subjects throughout her oeuvre. Her work was largely concerned with social issues, drawing from daily life in Egypt. Abdel- Aleem’s painting Clinic (1958) depicts a queue of patients waiting at the door to a medical clinic as a white dove soars above them. Women stand in line with their children, each dressed in bold, patterned clothing; one carries fresh produce, while others carry bowls of food. A male nurse stands in a white uniform guarding the entrance to the clinic, marked with a sign that reads “Visit” in Arabic script. This painting is characteristic of Abdel-Aleem’s practice, featuring women protagonists rendered in stylised figurations and gestural brushstrokes. In it, she presents a social commentary on life in 1950s’ Egypt, centring the struggles of the average Egyptian woman. She exhibited extensively in Egypt and internationally, and notably represented Egypt at numerous international biennials. Her work was presented at Biennale Arte in 1964.
—Nadine Nour el Din
