# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/B3p4gLflOv3
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16044324-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/8291989f62.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-10-15T21:45:31.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

In 2013, artist Mahmoud Mohamed Abd El Aziz (Yassin Mohamed) was detained by Egyptian police after attending a protest against the government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egypt’s military had recently overthrown democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and installed el-Sisi, who initiated an aggressive policy of crackdowns on public dissent, banning organized gatherings and specifically targeting supporters of Islamist and pro-democracy leftist parties. For the next five years, Yassin was repeatedly arrested and⁣ transferred from prison to prison for the crime of participation in antigovernment demonstrations. Overcrowded group cells precluded any chance for privacy, and Yassin felt compelled to remain completely withdrawn in order to avoid harassment by fellow prisoners affiliated with religious extremist groups. Drawing, according to Yassin, offered him solace, and he depicted his surroundings as filled with hopeful symbols like flowers, which he included as substitutes for the worst aspects of prison life. According to Yassin, “In prison, plants and flowers are like life in the midst of death.”⁣
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See more of Yassin's drawings in “The Pencil is Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists,” on-view in our Main Gallery and Drawing Room until January 5, 2020. Throughout the run of the exhibition, admission to The Drawing Center will be FREE (Wed - Sun, 12pm - 6pm | Thurs, 12pm - 8pm)⁣
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Image: Mahmoud Mohamed Abd El Aziz (Yassin Mohamed), “A Plea to God,” 2018. Pen ink and color pencil on paper. Courtesy of the artist.⁣
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#ThePencilIsaKey #drawingcenter

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drawingcenter, thepencilisakey

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