Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Art Center

Ibrahim Said was born in Cairo Egypt. He grew up in Al Fustat, Cairo, which was a flourishing hub for commercial pottery work. From a young age, Said was trained by his family of potters in clay ceramics. His ceramic vessels explore and communicate his heritage through the intersection of ancient Egyptian pottery and Islamic arts, which includes ancient geometric, floral, and animal motifs. His artwork is greatly inspired by vases of the Egyptian Naqada III period of 3200-3000 B.C., and detailed carvings of water jug filters of the Egyptian Fatimid Period from 900-1200 A.C.E.

Said splits his time between Cairo and North Carolina, and teaches at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Said’s pottery is held in the permanent collections of the Bardo National Museum in Tunisia, Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in Cairo, the Mint Museum in Charlotte, and many more. He has had several solo exhibitions in both Cairo and the North Carolina Area including Durham and Greensboro. Furthermore, he won the Metcalf Award in 2020 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Photo by Dhanraj Emanuel