P2.2 / project content — Manar Moursi

The initial work was shown at SOMA in Mexico City in 2019. Artist Su Yu filmed me, assisted by Marwa ben Halim. In 2021, Montserrat Cattaneo filmed me. A second part of this work, "Platanos y Momias," was shown at SOMA, Mexico City, in 2021.

Plátanos y Momias SOMA, San Rafael and Mexico City, 2021

During a 2021 residency in Veracruz, I revisited my 2019 video performance Mummy Issues: I Am Not Your Mummy, repeating the act of wrapping and unwrapping myself—this time in a cemetery and a banana plantation. The cemetery performance emphasized memory, death, and cultural heritage, while the plantation highlighted the harmful impacts of mono-crop farming introduced in Veracruz in the 19th century. This farming practice, driven by colonial legacies and foreign investment, caused environmental degradation and economic exploitation of local communities. It was also in this banana plantation that a local family found archaeological artifacts that now form part of their informal collection. During my residency, I met this family and learned about their collection, which inspired further exploration.

My draft artist book, Plátanos y Momias, explores informal collections in Mexico, featuring photographs of the artifacts and examining their role in preserving heritage. The text contrasts informal collections with state-held ones, raising questions about the dissemination of cultural heritage and the fate of Mexican and Egyptian artifacts exported globally. Additionally, I explore the phenomenon of Egyptomania and its colonial framing of Egyptian heritage, critiquing how it shaped the Western portrayal of artifacts. At SOMA, I presented this draft publication with a tape mold of my body, a two-channel video installation of I Am Not Your Mummy, and an edible pyramid, creating a constellation that addresses the decolonization of museums, objects, and bodies.