Curated by: Yasmeen Tukan
"Fantasia: A World Between Reality and Imagination" is an exhibition that features dialogues between animals, whether they are lions or birds. All of these fables carry moral messages that we lack today. Bahmim created fictional animals for contemporary topics; we see the fox with a wing of gold, the turtle with a shell packed with precious stones, and the king of elephants debating Fairouz the rabbit by the Moon pond.
The artist sought to provide moral wisdom gained from stories passed down from one generation to the other through books and folktales about mythical creatures found in popular culture and human heritage. The tiger protects the cornfields, while the sharp-sighted and quick-witted peregrine falcon, also known as "Al-Shaheen", guards the horizon. These events take place outside the ordinary, in a fictional world full of wisdom, sermons, and imaginary creatures that depend on miniatures.
