Mandy El-Sayegh

For her first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, Mandy El-Sayegh (1985) transforms a Depot gallery into an all-encompassing installation. For this new work, El-Sayegh uses a wide range of materials, including newspaper clippings, anatomy books, silkscreens, latex sheets, and her father’s Arabic calligraphy. In her work, fragments from diverse sources are brought together into layered compositions.

In her art, El-Sayegh brings together various disciplines: from painting, collage, and installation to video and performance. In the exhibition, visitors encounter the making process in which language, material, and meaning are dismantled and rebuilt layer by layer. El-Sayegh examines how meaning and subjectivity continuously shift under the influence of context. Through layering diverse materials, she makes this dynamic visible. Her concepts of ‘adhesion’ and ‘skins’ refer to contact, vulnerability, and the boundary between inside and outside.

Cover image: Mandy El-Sayegh, White Grounds, installation view, 2019, Bétonsalon, Centre d’Art et de Recherche, Paris, France | photo: Aurélien Mole