Wael Shawky’s works bring real and imagined histories of the Arab world into dialogue through provocative retellings that challenge conventional distinctions between truth and fiction and dencentre dominant western narratives to offer alternative interpretations of the Arab region. The first two parts of a film trilogy, Al Araba Al Madfuna I (2012) and Al Araba Al Madfuna II (2013) are shot in black and white in the tradition of classic Egyptian movies. Children with glued-on mustaches and dubbed deep voices mimic adults as they share stories by Egyptian novelist and short story writer Mohamed Mustagab (1938–2005). Shown in Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013), Al Araba Al Madfuna I draws on a story about a dying tribal leader whose tribe blindly follows the guidance of his ‘last word’ to worship certain animals. Al Araba Al Madfuna II retells Mustagab’s parables ‘Horsemen Adore Perfumes’ and ‘The Offering’. Co-produced by Sharjah Art Foundation and the Wiener Festwochen, the film was included in the solo exhibition Wael Shawky: Horsemen Adore Perfumes and other stories at Sharjah Art Foundation (2014). 

^{*Currently exhibited at Compton Verney}