Dear Friends of the Museum for Islamic Art,

We are delighted to welcome the artist, designer, and art historian Bahia Shehab for an evening centred on her new book, taking place on 11 June 2026 from 6:00 pm in the Brugsch-Pascha-Saal.
 

Bahia Shehab
‘Power and the Media: Politics, Beauty and Image Creation in Egypt‘
Language: English
Archaeological Centre, Brugsch-Pascha-Saal – 4th Floor
Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 6, 10117 Berlin
 

In A Trade in Dreams, Shehab takes us on a century-long journey through Egyptian print advertising, from 1880 to 1980. Drawing on press advertisements and graphic imagery, she examines how visual culture shaped – and was shaped by – the structures of power in modern Egypt.

Her talk explores how political authority, colonial influence, and a rising national consciousness were constructed and disseminated through image-making. Advertising emerges not as a mere reflection of social conditions, but as an active space where ideology, aspiration, and control converge – one that continues to inform media landscapes to this day.

An evening about the power of images, the politics of beauty, and the story of a society reinventing itself.

Registration
Please register at info@fmik.de by 7 June 2026. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.