Lydia and the Swan Print

OUROBOROS Of Dust, Milk and Waterproof Eyeliner Painting exhibition by Lina Osama This exhibition comes as an autobiographical exploration of oscillating between daily challenges and triumphs in the life of an Egyptian woman in her mid-thirties living in today’s changing world as an artist, wife and mother. Inspired by self-imposed cautionary quarantine this year, many ideas, habits and goals have been questioned in an act of psychological renovation yearning for a balance between new norms and well accustomed comfort zones, reminiscent of an ouroboros ring. The word ouroboros means ‘all is one’ or ‘the infinite serpent’, and is demonstrated by a serpent with its tail in its mouth, emerging circa 1600 BC. . Historically, serpents represent a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation and healing. Known as the oldest allegorical symbol in alchemy, the ouroboros is a symbol of continual renewal of life reflecting the concept of eternity through endless return. The Ouroboros is one of the oldest symbols in history, originating in ancient Egyptian iconography to be later adopted by Greek mythology and western tradition. In modern mysticism, the infinity symbol has become identified with a variation of the ouroboros drawn in figure-eight form. It is symbolic of the cyclic nature of time universally, where creation often begins after destruction. Lina Osama, Cairo, 7/12/2020