The Silent Multitudes

Amal Kenawy (1975-2012) was a leading Egyptian artist who worked with video, installation and performance to produce works that confronted Egyptian society with socially critical issues. Her work often employed cinematic vocabularies and controversial themes that addressed the socio-political realities of ordinary women and men.

The Silent Multitudes (2010) consists of a large room built using over a hundred gas cylinders arranged in a grid to form 'walls'. Inside the structure, a video installation shows a person kicking a rusty gas tank that is constantly rolling down the street. The installation conveys the idea of a pressurised situation about to explode. It uses a provocative vocabulary and examines the concept of art and its function as a force for social change. The work also offers a denunciation of the reality and living conditions of people in contemporary Egypt. The Silent Multitudes is seen as a direct reference to the turning point of the popular uprising in Egypt against 'everyday crises' and resonates with sentiments and events at that time elsewhere in the Middle East.