At first glance, the Cairo art installation appears to be a mural in red and purple hues, of three people at a table. Then, one of the subjects pours bright pink paint from a teapot into a cup. Another lights a cigarette, and the scene comes into focus.
The installation, called After Dinner, was Cairo-based artist Chanel Arif's latest venture into living, breathing art.
Arif uses humans and their surroundings as her canvas, creating what at first appear to be two-dimensional paintings using fluid brush strokes and playing with light and shadows.
"It's crazy to be able to create that optical illusion, from 3D to 2D ... When you create something with the human body, people are affected more by it, there’s something more intimate about it," Arif told Reuters.
The child of Saudi and Iranian immigrants to the United States, Arif first signed up to study make-up and body art in Los Angeles last year. After returning to Egypt, she relied on friends, who offered their bodies and time, to experiment.
"You’re just like a canvas for someone’s vision and even just to be concentrating to keep a certain mood is really meditative, May Mansour, one of the models in the installation and Arif's friend, said.
REUTERS
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