Versatile Art: The Story of Omar Zahra

You would expect that with the rise and normalisation of social media, artists would find it easier to portray their art, however, not all artists think the same.

"بشكل عام، هو صعب ان الفن بتاع اي حد يُلاحَظ بسبب السوشيال ميديا، عارف ان الكلام ده غريب بس دي وجهت نظري؛ السوشيال ميديا سهلت لفنانين كتير انهم يعرضوا شغلهم، وفي فنانين كتير شغلهم احسن مني، فهنا الفكره ان انا لازم اكون متميز عنهم و افكاري احسن عشان الناس تلاحظني و اني لازم ابقى احسن منهم عشان الناس تلاحظ فني، بس بالنسبة في مصر انا مش مهتم الصراحه وانا حاليا مش مهتم بالناس انهم يلاحظوني انا مهتم اني اطور نفسي واطلع حاجه انا مقتنع بيها ميه بالميه." 

t/n: "Generally, it is difficult for one's art to be seen due to social media, I know that this might sound weird, but that's what I think; social media has made it much easier for a lot of artists to showcase their work, and there are tons of artists out there whose work is so much better than mine, and here is where the need to stand out more and be better originates, all so that people would notice one’s art. Though, in all honesty, I'm currently not that interested in people inside Egypt noticing me as much as I am invested in bettering myself and producing pieces that I am 100% confident in."

This is a quote from the man behind our logo, icon, favicon and also the account @omarzahra89 on Instagram, Omar Zahra, who's a 19 y/o artist interested in hip-hop, rap and graffiti, with more inclination towards the Arabic ones. A couple of days back, we had the opportunity to chitchat with Zahra and know more about his journey and art and, let me tell you, this is was a fun conversation that I'm sure is gonna be of interest to all of you!

Zahra's love for the digital arts started when he was much younger, his dad -who was his first supporter- taught him how to use Photoshop and, as soon as he noticed Zahra's interest and passion, he started to focus on enhancing his level by sending him to take related courses and encouraging him even more.

After finishing his first piece, Zahra felt utter happiness, "it felt like I have done what no man can do, I even remember my first work was photoshopping my picture onto the faces of wrestlers, all jokes aside." As for posting his first artwork online, he was hella thrilled to see people's reactions and to know how many likes he'd gain, however, since this was still his first piece to be uploaded online, it did not get as much engagement as he had hoped for and expected.

Nevertheless, when you are as passionate about your art as Zahra is, it only gets better! At first, all of his supporters mainly consisted of his friends and family, now, on the other hand, there are so many people who follow him and are actively on the lookout for his new pieces, even DMing him to ask about what he's working on when he doesn't update as much.

And, as versatile as Zahra's personality has been through the years, so did his art. "My art is changeable, it changes depending on my mood, and I always try to come up with new, innovative ideas that are straight out of the box."

At the end of the interview, we asked Zahra to give a word of advice to those who are scared of publishing their artwork because of people's criticism and he said,

"طالما اي حد بينزل شغله على النت لازم يتوقع النقد سواء كان بناء او لا، فنصيحتي لاي حد ماينزلش اي شغل ليه وهو مش عاجبه ميه في الميه وانه يشوف النقد من الناحيه الإيجابية ويعرف انه هيقابل ناس مش بتفه بس كل همها انه تنقج وخلاص وان ده ميأثرش فيه." 

t/n: "As long as you are uploading your work online, you should expect criticism, whether constructive or unconstructive, so my advice is not to publish your work unless you 100% like it, and to look at the criticism from a positive lens, knowing that you'll meet people who understand nothing and only want to criticise, but that this should not affect you in any way."