In this journey back to the Arab world Ali explored the past and present, the timeless and dissonant sources of Arab identity. He experienced Egypt both as an insider and outsider, simultaneously observing it and plunging into it. The works reflect his intellectual–artistic development and his more intimate, personal experience of Cairo during one pivotal year. This period launched Ali’s lifelong interest in Arab civilization and his quest for what it meant to be Arab in the late 20th century.

After moving from Cairo to Amman in 1978, Ali continued to pursue these themes in his art work while engaging in a wide range of cultural preservation projects.  He also revisited political themes, images and scraps of popular culture culled from his sojourn in Egypt. Perhaps jolted by the Gulf wars of the 1980s, he created a dozen satirical political collages. A common theme of the series is hypocrisy and the lies offered by authoritarian leaders who demanded great sacrifice and delivered so little to their people in return.

Ali’s journals are full of parody and tirades against the colonial and homegrown rulers for whom the 'little people' didn’t really matter. He was keenly aware that while the Egyptians’ ancient past was full of majesty, their more recent history was full of insult and disappointment. Capturing the often disjointed dynamic of the modern Arab world, the collages invite closer study to appreciate their graphic double meanings and visual ironies.

• Excerpted from the catalogue Journey Back – Ali Jabri in Egypt, 1977, published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Ali Jabri Human Heritage Foundation, Amman, June 2009.