Social Fabric
Photographic collage and sound installation, 2015
30 digital inkjet photo collages with audio
Installation: 7 × 5 in. each, framed; overall dimensions variable
Edition of 3 + AP / exhibition print

In Social Fabric, Mai Al Shazly layers passport stamps and monochrome ID photographs onto vivid floral textiles, creating a visual and sonic reflection on identity, mobility, and state control. The work addresses how personal narratives are mediated through official documents, exposing the tension between individuality and bureaucracy.

Through this collage of intimate portraits and institutional marks, the project questions how freedom of movement is both granted and restricted, and how systems of documentation shape our sense of belonging. The juxtaposition of rigid archival imagery with expressive textile patterns evokes themes of gender, cultural memory, and the politics of representation.

Featured in the exhibition;
Beyond Classification, curated by artist-scholar Nagla Samir, American University Cairo; US organizer, artist-professor Greg Pond, Sewanee University.