Daribat Alwade

Daribat Alwade presents three women sitting together on the floor in a quiet Egyptian village. Ezzeldin Naguib illustrates these figures dressed in colourful traditional clothing and jewelry. The trio is focusing on cowrie -shells that the woman in the middle is using to read the future. She carefully examines the shells while the two other women beside her watch with interest and curiosity.

Cowrie shell divination in African countries is an ancient spiritual practice in which fortune-tellers cast prepared shells to communicate with ancestors and read a person's destiny. Hence, the Egyptian painter captures a moment of cultural and local tradition. His depiction of the women, whose expressions render anticipation and belief in the unseen future, suggests the mystery of that shared experience. The artwork falls into an art movement of 1960s Egypt in which artists aimed to render the daily life and customs of the people in the Egyptian countryside as a reflection of the national identity.