"Still Serenity" is the title of the work presented by the artist Maria Youssef in the 30th edition of the Aswan Sculpture Symposium. In it, she invests her experience in dealing with the granite material, which she acquired in the Youth Workshop in the previous edition.Thework embodies a woman lying in a side position, leaning on her arm, while her hand rests on her chest in a manner that expresses a state of comfort and psychological stability.
Maria confirms that the work does not seek to narrate a story or express a direct symbol, but rather records a moment of calm and serenity free of tension. The sculpture embodies relaxation as a state complete in itself, lacking nothing, in a scene that celebrates calm as a pure human value.
Maria seesthat herexperience in the art of sculpture is based on an interest inexpression through addressing the movement of the woman's body in different forms, which often represent certain states she has gone through in her life. This is the common factor with the work she presented in the Youth Workshop in the previous edition of the symposium, even though this year's work does not represent an extension of the previous experience in the literal sense, but it also addresses a woman in a different position.
She points to her special connection to the Aswan Symposium, which celebrates with her reaching the age of thirty, as she is from the generation that was born with the launch of its first edition. She sees her participation in it as a pivotal step in her artistic career,
as it is her first experience carving a large stone piece with a width of 270cm, in addition to what it carries of artistic and human richness and opportunities for mutual learning with the artists and assistants present at the symposium.
Maria expressed her happiness at participating in two consecutive editions of one of the most sustainable symposiums in the world, describing her participations
as artistically and humanly rich, and saying that they contributed to developing her abilities in dealing with stone.
