Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich Difficult Life and Exhibition My first failed essay in 3rd year art class at University of Windsor

 

I’m An Archaeologist of Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich’s Difficult Life and Exhibition
by Stephen Weir

I spent much of the morning rooting through every box in the attic storeroom of my 100-year-old office in Toronto. I was searching for two papyrus pieces of artwork that I had purchased late one night in Cairo from a small street urchin.

What set me on the search was the guest lecture that Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich gave in our Wednesday morning class. Her emotional and riveting discussion about her exhibition, An Archaeology of Echoes, gave me insights I wish I had had when I first toured the show. One of the artist’s paintings hanging in the exhibition—and appearing in a slide during her lecture—triggered my quest.

Quoting from a description posted online on Britannica’s social media page:

“Geb, her painting posted above, is depicted as ‘Shu (standing, centre) supporting the sky goddess Nut arched above him, with the earth god Geb lying at his feet, detail.’” 

Well, I did find the two papyrus paintings I had left in my office decades ago. I was in Egypt working on a TV show in 1991. After a long day of filming, I left my Cairo hotel and went for a midnight walk near the city’s famed art gallery. I was followed by several street children—obviously poor, hungry, and able to speak only a few words of English. They were begging. I gave them all the money I had, and in return, they handed me two wrapped paintings, one of which is shown above.

I had given them $4 (U.S.) and thought, “What is happening in the art world? Why do beggar children sell these artworks by the roll in the back alleys of dangerous cities?”

I did visit the gallery with the TV crew and asked about my art purchase the night before. I was told it was what they call a tourist papyrus painting, depicting a very recognizable ancient Egyptian religious scene—one that has been copied and sold on Cairo streets for well over a century. My notes show that the gallery staff explained the two pieces I bought could have been produced quickly, using stencils or copied outlines. The PR person also said the street kids were (and still are) part of Cairo’s informal survival economy.

The papyrus work reminds one of Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich’s exhibition pieces. What drew Jaouich to this Egyptian art form, and was she copying the papyrus paintings? According to an exhaustive Google search, the short answer is that the pyramids, papyrus-style scenes, and Egyptian symbols in her Windsor exhibition are there because Egypt is part of her family’s migration story. She deliberately mixes history, memory, and personal narrative.

According to curator Emily McKibbon, Head of Exhibitions and Collections, “Ahmarani Jaouich’s work reflects her family’s history of exile following the Armenian Genocide. 

I also reflected on contemporary acts of violence: the Concordia University shooting on August 24, 1992, in which four people were killed and several wounded, The artist graduated from Concord in that era. I survived terrorism  in Toronto four years earlier. I lived through that act of terrorism (bombing) where I worked in Toronto before the Concordia shootings. I understand how violence can shape a person’s creative life, yet time is always a factor. The Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide belong to the past, on different continents. Why, then, can’t Jaouich paint about her new homeland? There appears to be little or no reference to Canada in her work. According to her website, she has had few curated exhibitions in Ontario and Quebec, and nothing significant in other provinces. Her solo show in New York, at Arsenal Contemporary Art New York, titled Bloodlines (June 23–August 18, 2023), explored her Armenian heritage, including intergenerational trauma and the legacy of the Armenian Genocide.I also reflected on contemporary acts of violence: the Concordia University shooting on August 24, 1992, in which four people were killed and several wounded, The artist graduated from Concord in that era. I survived terrorism  in Toronto four years earlier. I lived through that act of terrorism (bombing) where I worked in Toronto before the Concordia shootings. I understand how violence can shape a person’s creative life, yet time is always a factor. The Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide belong to the past, on different continents. Why, then, can’t Jaouich paint about her new homeland? There appears to be little or no reference to Canada in her work. According to her website, she has had few curated exhibitions in Ontario and Quebec, and nothing significant in other provinces. Her solo show in New York, at Arsenal Contemporary Art New York, titled Bloodlines (June 23–August 18, 2023), explored her Armenian heritage, including intergenerational trauma and the legacy of the Armenian Genocide.

In preparing to visit exhibitions, I usually review how a show has been covered in the media. For An Archaeology of Echoes, I found no detailed information in print or televised outlets on either side of the Detroit River. While concrete statistics are unavailable, both Detroit and Windsor have significant populations with Armenian, Egyptian, and Lebanese heritage. Aside from a French-language CBC report by Lisette Leboeuf—thankfully translatable via Google—the exhibition seems largely invisible. 

Below; PAINTING FAMILY GIRLS IN WINDSOR SHOW

As she told the class, the people in her paitings are her families, Moms Dads Sisters and Cousin.  Touching but the figures she painted are very childish, almost cartoon like.  Moon faces even when wearing Fezes..

An Archaeology of Echoes is leaving the city, and Jaouich told me at her lecture that there are no immediate plans for it to travel elsewhere. Windsor has a rich artistic history, and I would have liked to see the gallery showcase local talent such as Thaddeus Holownia, an acclaimed landscape photographer and Windsor University graduate who received the Governor General’s Award for Artistic Achievement in 2025, or John Scott, whose sci-fi–influenced works are in the gallery’s permanent collection.

As the exhibition space empties, one wonders: will any of Jaouich’s canvases remain in the gallery’s collection? And more broadly, will Windsor audiences ever see reflections of their own landscapes, histories, and communities in future exhibitions?
Art has the power to connect past and present, home and exile—but in Windsor, An Archaeology of Echoes reminds us that sometimes, even the most personal journeys remain invisible to the world around them.

There is nothing good in her painting about the familycoming to Canada and while she doesn’t talk/paint about the murders in what about her own history at Concorde where there was a slaughter  of students, in 1922 when she was probably a student

Art has the power to connect past and present, home and exile—but in Windsor, An Archaeology of Echoes reminds us that sometimes, even the most personal journeys remain invisible to the world around them.

  Fez Painting not too Canadian

Art has the power to connect past and present, home and exile—but in Windsor, An Archaeology of Echoes reminds us that sometimes, even the most personal journeys remain invisible to the world around them.

 Writer's note: In 2026 I am 74 years of age and the second oldest student at the University of Windsor.  I am a senator, a member of the Board of Governor and the vice president of OPUS the part-time student union.  I am older than everyone on these boards and committees.  My professor Dr. Karen Englehated this review gave it a failing grade. She gave me 6 months to write a better review. I did. She failed that one two.  I did write the author to ask why there aren['t any Canadian people, Montreal street scenes, and Canadian landscapes ( there is one landscape painting where there are no Canadian trees and majestic lakes and rivers, instead there is only palm trees in the desert.

The artist Muriel Ahmarani Jaouich picturefrom Instagram