The presence of contemporary art installations in a museum of Egyptian antiquities is a new practice to put the historical collections in relation to the present time. Moreover, Turin is a city where history and modernity coexist harmoniously.
In November 2024, for the celebrations of the bicentenary of his birth, the Egyptian Museum of Turin was enriched with the installations of two contemporary artists. You can find a description of the work of Ali Cherri, the Lebanese artist and director who lives and works in Paris, in a previous article.
This time I would like to talk to you about the work of Sara Sallam, a young multidisciplinary artist, born and raised in Egypt, who lives and works in the Netherlands.
Sara Sallam
Her artistic practice explores the representation of ancient Egypt in the West. Her original and critical point of view is expressed in her thought-provoking installations.
In 2022 Sallam had already worked at the Egyptian Museum in Turin for a temporary exhibition on the occasion of the centenary of the discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. She has also followed projects in collaboration with the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich (United Kingdom) and the Art & History Museum in Brussels among others.
The title of the contemporary art installation, created in 2024 for the Egyptian Museum in Turin, is The Sun Weeps for the Land And Calls from the Garden of Stones.
The work reminds visitors of the diaspora of the 730 statues of the goddess Sekhmet, sculpted for the funerary temple of Amenhotep III. From the 19th century onwards they were dispersed in European museums.
Only in Turin there are 21! These sacred statues now stay distressed in museums, far from the place and the spiritual purpose for which they were conceived.
The installation consists of three parts:
Shifting Sands, Carving Scars
In a photographic collage Sallam shows the wounds inflicted on the earth by antiquities seekers to extract the 21 statues of the goddess Sekhmet kept in the Turin museum.
Prayer Beads
A tribute to the 730 statues of Sekhmet that recited a litany to protect the pharaoh. The 309 photos visible in the display cases represent the statues scattered between temples and other museums. The 21 empty spaces, instead, represent those housed in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Turin.
A Broken Circle of Sisters
In addition, Sallam performed rituals with the photos visible on video to virtually restore the 21 statues of Turin to their original location in Egypt.
The Goddess Sekhmet
But who is this goddess and why have so many statues been dedicated to her?
A warrior goddess personifying destructive power, she was also the goddess of healing. This is why the Egyptians wanted to win her favor.
Sekhmet is represented sitting on a throne or standing, like a woman with a lioness’ head carrying the solar disk. On her forehead stands a uraeus, a snake with a dilated throat. In one hand she holds the key to life, called ankh.
On a private guided tour of the Egyptian Museum in Turin you can discover the statues of this powerful goddess and other divinities of the Egyptian pantheon, as well as the new contemporary art installations.
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If you want to read more about the extraordinary Egyptian Museum of Turin check out these two articles: