Egyptian artist portrays soccer stars as saints
Proud Egyptians have been putting the faces of their soccer team on everything from T-shirts to Ramadan lanterns, but when an artist decided to paint them as saints, all hell broke loose.
The faces of the Egyptian national soccer team have been everywhere, from T-shirts to Ramadan lanterns, ever since they made it to the World Cup. However, when el-Dostor, a local newspaper, published a portrait of coach Hector Cuper as Jesus Christ, some of the newspaper's readers thought it went too far.
The work is part of a series called “Egyptian Lullaby” by Egyptian artist Ahmed el-Sabrouti, who drew Cuper as Jesus and the national soccer team players as saints. Mo Salah, the famous soccer player who currently plays for Liverpool, is portrayed wearing a crown, with the inscription “King of Egypt.”
The digital portraits vaguely resemble what is known as Fayum portraits, the funerary portraits that date from the first century B.C. and are seen in wooden boards attached to Egyptian mummies from Roman Egypt. The name comes from Egypt’s Fayum Basin, where they were commonly found. This form of portraits, faces painted in detail in natural colors, are often seen in Coptic iconography in Egypt.
“If art is not bold and unexpected, then it is not art at all,” Sabrouti said. “I wanted to portray the national team in a style inspired by Fayum portraits, which are considered to be the first attempt of ancient artists to paint naturalistic portraits. This art is the godfather of the iconography that we see in the churches of Egypt today.”
