Trailblazers: Menhat Helmy bridges worlds through art

DUBAI: From scenes of local village life to images inspired by the cosmos, the late Egyptian modern artist Menhat Helmy’s oeuvre was a varied one.  

Helmy was born in Cairo in 1925 into a large family of seven sisters and two brothers. She died in May 2004.  

One relative who remembers her fondly is her eldest grandson, Canada-based journalist Karim Zidan, who grew up with her paintings hanging in his family’s house.