“Writing” and “Reading” Icons – Icons as “Text” on Coptic Experience The Victor Fakhoury Icon Series 2011–2018

Abstract

Iconographers are artists who create sacred and devotional images inspired by the Holy Bible and guided by the dogmas and doctrines of the Church. An icon from the Coptic Orthodox tradition is conceived to convey the essence of a biblical story or the life of a saint or martyr. For this reason, icons are often said to be “written” rather than painted.

Art, including religious art, is a social product. It is not created in a social or cultural vacuum. Artists, like all individuals, are shaped by their social and historical contexts. One of the research objectives of the Coptic Museum of Canada (CMC) is to document the contemporary artists represented in our collection. This goal arises from the challenges that scholars, and I as a curator, have encountered when interpreting early icons, particularly from the perspective of the artist, and in responding to visitors’ complex questions.

Between 2014 and 2017, the CMC acquired Victor Fakhoury’s unique series of ten icons depicting the im- pact of the 2011 Egyptian Uprising on the Coptic Church and its followers. This paper discusses and illustrates the methods used to interpret, or “read”, these icons from Victor Fakhoury’s perspective.