The legendary Nile is associated with myth and history and forms an integral part of an Egyptian civilisation that has lasted for more than 3000 years in all its splendour. The Nile is also the border between two continents and two spheres, East and West. In collaboration with Vues d’Afriques, MEKIC offers a break in the midst of winter. Enjoy North Africa’s warm colours while discovering eight artists in the exhibition,The other side of the Nile.

Born in North Africa, Algiers, Alexandria, Tunis, Cognac (Europe) or Quebec, the artists share the same fascination for a place that is rich with civilisation, rich in history, arts, in colour and in the humanities. Mehel was born on the water between two banks and is interested in substances that come from the earth. Even when she paints, her works are in ceramics, with surfaces, contours and boundless limits that she fiercely challenges. Mehel creates ceramic ware that carries the presence of the artist and traces of the passage of time.  From her hands, she invites one to feel how matter speaks to the senses and the intellect, equipping one with imprints that are formed by the artist’s inspirations.


Born in Morocco, Raja El Ouadili(7) exhibits one significant piece bearing her personal journey which begins with a photo and ends in a magnificent nude, The Golden Cage. In this painting, Raja, who learned to paint at a very young age, dares to unveil a Moroccan woman who is surrounded by warm colours, and who asserts her femininity and her sensuality. With audacity and restraint, modesty and boldness, this painting reflects an inner tension that resonates and echoes in the streets of her homeland from which the artist observes from afar. This self-portrait is a personal artistic expression of stepping out and discovering an inner self that would have remained silent without the mediation of the brush.

In Blue Algiers, the blue is both sky and sea with warm colours that fill the space. Portraying an exuberant city or a very calm one whose quietness is only disturbed by the waves of the Mediterranean Sea, the same blue is also found in Fall Sunshine in Rimouski. In this piece, Nylda hides the sun behind numerous clouds with a radiance of  luminous sparkle, with all its fire in an abstract explosion above a peaceful fishing cabin. In Cavalcade, Nylda sets loose her inspiration; the canvas is filled with vivid colours and is chaotic in appearance only. Rarely have figurative and abstract pieces worked so well together.

Magdoline Youssef(6,10) was raised in Alexandria. She returns to the place of her childhood to build a visual journey from her memory. A photographer by profession, she grasps sacred environments and chooses large format pictures to unveil a hidden memory to convey what she has felt as a child. We find ourselves in contemplation and in front of the Closed Door and the Monastery’s Church Tower of Saint-Simon leading us to a concealed road and a bridge where monks escape in case of danger. Another large format picture, Mountain Sculpture, shows how the monastery has been constructed in the mountain rock. In the foreground is a lantern; in the background, a church, with the journey ending in the narrow streets of the old city of Cairo.