Bonhams is delighted to be presenting this powerful and enigmatic piece by Ashraf El Zamzami depicting the Nubian fellaha in her everyday plight. Egyptian women highly value personal adornment and it has been worn by all social classes for centuries. In this artistically unique and striking depiction, the Nubian woman is seen adorned with bold native jewellery and a headpiece. Despite her daily struggles, the artist focuses on elevating the status of the often-oppressed fellaha by enhancing her features and glorifying the position of the female worker in rural society. The iconic symbol of the fellaha was one of the earliest acts of support male artists gave to the Egyptian feminist movement in their recognition and celebration of the fellaha's contribution to society.

Ashraf Al Zamzami was born in Giza in 1967. He joined the Menia Faculty of Fine Arts where he obtained a bachelor degree in Painting in 1990. He gained recognition in the early 1990s and he participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions between 1998 and 2007. Zamzami took a step back from the artistic scene for nearly 10 years before he returned with a solo exhibition titled 'Loneliness' n 2019 and another one in 2020 titled 'Isolation' reflecting his state of mind during this period.