Reaya al-Nemr
Visual artist and journalist
Reaya al-Nemr is a visual artist, news page designer, and the first woman in Egypt to work in the field of news design and layout production in print media. She was also the first woman to serve as the Director of Giza’s Palace of Culture. Reaya graduated from the Higher Institute of Fine Arts for Women Teachers in 1955, and joined the Journalists Syndicate in 1957. She worked at the Folk Art Center, at the Ministry of Culture in 1963, to prepare the inauguration of Egypt’s Museum of Folk Art. She also worked at the Theater Foundation on the Theater Museum. She took interest in handicrafts and folk arts, and participated with her private collection in Baghdad Fashion Festival in 1984 in Iraq, and represented the Ministry of Culture in the same year at an art festival in Murcia, Spain.
Reaya was born on al-Mubtadayan Street, at al-Mounira neighborhood, in Cairo. Her father was an Egyptian man of property, whom Reaya described as kind, calm, and composed. Since he was always busy at work and did not spend a lot of time with her at home, Reaya saw that her mother played the greatest part in her upbringing. Her mother, Lady Zaynab Faysal, was a Turk born in Egypt. She received formal education, but never got to pursue further studies. Reaya described her as a strong woman, who was progressive, and more open-minded than the rest of her generation. She had a huge impact on Reaya’s character development, and gave Reaya a free hand to make her own life decisions in all matters.
Although girls’ education was not common at that time, Reaya’s parents enrolled her in school because both of them were ardent about education. Reaya attended al-Orman School in Giza, and despite the good relations she had with her teachers and classmates, she recalled painful memories at school because her French language teacher was cruel to her. Reaya started her political activism at school, as she participated in the protests against the British occupation, and distributed a political magazine. She was influenced by her sister, Asia al-Nemr, who was a political activist working alongside the pioneer women Latifa al-Zayyat and Ingy Aflatoun. At that stage, Reaya was interested in reading about art and literature in general, but particularly about politics.
Reaya attended a technical secondary school, where she participated in a large number of artistic activities, and was always one of the top students. She recounted that when Princess Fayqa was the supervisor of the Red Crescent, she requested to have the ‘ideal’ students at one of the Red Crescent’s events, and the school principal chose Reaya and her colleague, Yildiz Isaac. The girls attended the event, and sold roses to raise donations. Reaya took part in the Red Crescent’s activities, through which she learned nursing and first aid. Princess Fayqa awarded her the Red Crescent Badge, and she was photographed while receiving the badge. This photograph appeared on the cover of al-Shaab Magazine.
Reaya learned the piano because she wanted to study music, and at school, her music teacher was Dr. Ratiba al-Hefni. Yet, she later developed a love for drawing because of the constant encouragement and love she received from her art teacher, Ms. Dawlat Hassan. Reaya’s passion for visual arts emerged, and during high school, she decided to join the independent study division at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts for Women Teachers in Bulaq, in order to learn painting. She later formally enrolled in the Institute and was an outstanding student, before graduating in 1955 with excellence. Among her professors at the institute were Dr. Adalat Kamal, Dr. Saeed Khattab, and Dr. Shafiq Rizq, in addition to Dr. Tomader al-Nomrosi, who taught the anatomy course.
At the Institute, Reaya was trained as a teacher, and although she was good at teaching and the students loved her, she decided to work in journalism. Upon her graduation, Reaya worked at The Radio and Television Magazine, with Mr. Helmi Salam, its editor-in-chief. She illustrated the covers of the magazine, and continued to practice her art through her work in journalism, until the editor-in-chief assigned her a writing task. Reaya wrote an exceptional piece on “the problems of a journalist’s wife,” through which she met with the wives of several journalists, among whom were Ihsan Abd al-Quddous, and Zakie Abd al-Qadir. She then worked in news page design and layout production at Dar al-Hilal, and was the first woman to enter this field. Reaya recalled that the first news piece she worked on was about a Chinese folk-art troupe.
Reaya later worked at Dar al-Taawun Publishing House, and was its first editorial secretary. She worked on various magazines, including al-Taawun and Nahdat Afriqya. Reaya apprenticed under the tutelage of three pioneers of the news design: Abd al-Salam al-Sharif, Hassan Fouad, and Abd al-Ghani Abou al-Enein. She returned to The Radio and Television Magazine as a technical and art advisor to the magazine, before being nominated for a grant by the Socialist Institute to travel to Germany as part of a media mission.
Reaya took interest in collecting the traditional heritage of the different Egyptian governorates, during which she found similarities between the heritage of some Egyptian governorates and the heritage of their neighboring countries, such as the similarities between Sinai and Palestine, Marsa Matrouh and Libya, as well as Nubia and Sudan. As a result, she decided to collect the Arab heritage, including proverbs, sayings, and expressions, in addition to costumes, local industries, traditions, norms, and even children’s rhymes.
In 1963, Reaya married her life-long companion, the artist Abd al-Ghani Abou al-Enein, who taught her a lot about journalism. They had a strong friendship and a long love story, and enjoyed mutual interests and passions. Reaya recalled that he was supportive of her throughout their lives together, and that they were one entity. In 1967, Reaya worked at the Office for Public Culture, where she was in charge of the first cultural unit to be established at the Palace of Culture in the village of Kafr al-Shorafa. She also served as Director of Giza’s Palace of Culture, becoming the first woman to preside over two units at the same time. Reaya laid the foundation for the Museum of Folk Art, and established a museum in Siwa with her husband, in cooperation with the Canadian Aid, through which she encouraged local handicraft production. She also held a fashion festival in Baghdad in 1984, and represented Egypt’s Ministry of Culture at an art festival in Murcia, Spain. In addition, Reaya founded the Egyptian Association for Folklore, in partnership with Adalat Kamal and Dr. Abd al-Raziq Sedki.
Reaya was keen on learning and reading in many fields, especially psychology and religion. She recounted that when she compared religions, she realized that at all religions agreed on one message, which was to stop injustices. Such an idea was always a key driver for her throughout her life. Reaya also stressed her strong sense of belonging to Egypt, and that she saw herself as Egyptian to the core. She believed that people are like trees, inseparable from their roots, otherwise they would collapse. This belief was the source of her interest in learning about history, heritage, and origins. For Reaya, arts and folklore sum up the culture, faith, and history of every civilization.