Monday, April 20, 2009

More images from Egypt

Here are some more photos from my Egyptian trip.

Carvings on a temple wall (I can't remember which one - there were lots and they were all very similar). It must have taken so long to carve the figures into the rock and they were expected to last - as indeed they have.

Some Greek writing carved onto a temple wall. Egypt had many foreign rulers over the centuries (millennia) but one of the things that caught my attention was the variety of scripts I saw during my travels (hieroglyphics, Greek, Arabic and so on).

A Whirling Dervish in Aswan, with his brightly coloured skirt swirling. I think the design of his skirt could translate to a quilt.

The Alexandria Library gave me goosebumps. It doesn't look much from the outside but is beautiful and spacious inside. However, I also loved the facade, which is decorated with a wide variety of scripts.

A young girl transporting grass on a donkey.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Egypt

I haven't done much (read: any) textile arts recently but that's because I've been gathering inspiration from further afield - much further afield. In mid-March, we endured the long flight to Egypt. It is an amazing country and I've returned with many images, which I expect will influence my textile art in the future.

The pyramids and the Sphinx are almost cliched images of Egypt.As are camels (I didn't manage a ride on this trip but I've done that in central Australia).
Cairo traffic included some vehicles that aren't usually found on Canberra streets.
And, perhaps, the most unexpected sight was this rooftop farm in the centre of Cairo, which we could see from our hotel room.
We also had a day-trip to Petra, where we saw these beautifully coloured rocks.