Synthetic Egyptian Blue & the Evil Eye
Reconstructing a lost pigment and tracing its protective aura
Artists: Dina Danish & Jean-Baptiste Maitre
This project is funded with the support of the Netherlands through the Mondriaan Fund
NEWS
TALK AT CIC- Contemporary Image Collective in Cairo :
Reconstructing Egyptian Blue in Egypt, Artists' Perspective
March 1st, 2026
//الأزرق المصري: عرض ونقاش مع دينا دانش وجان باتيست ميتر//دعوة لحضور لقاء ونقاش مع الفنانين دينا دانش وجان باتيست ميتر حول مشروعهما المستمر منذ أربع سنوات لإعادة تصنيع "الأزرق المصري"، يوم الأحد القادم، 1 مارس 2026 الساعة 8 مساءً.يُعدّ الأزرق المصري أحد أقدم الأصباغ الصناعية التي عرفها الإنسان. قبل أكثر من 4500 عام، أُنتج في مصر القديمة باستخدام النار والرمل والنحاس والملح — ثم طُمست وصفته إلى حدٍّ كبير مع مرور الزمن.على مدى السنوات الأربع الماضية، عمل الفنانون دينا دانش وجان-باتيست ميتر في مصر على إعادة تصنيع هذه الصبغة باستخدام مواد محلية المصدر. بالتعاون مع خزّافين وحرفيي زجاج وبنّائي أفران في القاهرة، يتعاملان مع المشروع بوصفه بحثًا فنيًا لا إعادة بناء تاريخية — عبر التجريب، والفشل، والتكرار.في هذا اللقاء المدعوم من صندوق موندريان، سيعرضان صورًا ولقطات مصوّرة من الورش، ويناقشان عمليات الحرق والاختبارات المادية التي قاما بها؛ يتأملان في كيفية تصرّف هذا الأزرق القديم اليوم — كمسحوق، وسطح، وصورة. كما سيتطرّقان إلى خاصية توهجه في نطاق الأشعة تحت الحمراء القريبة، وارتباطه الطويل بالحماية، من عين حورس إلى خرزات النَّظَر — لونٌ يمتصّ ويعكس، وربما حتى يحدّق في المقابل.//
Egyptian Blue: Presentation and discussion by artists Dina Danish and Jean-Baptiste Maitre
We invite you to a talk by artists Dina Danish and Jean-Baptiste Maitre on their ongoing four-year project to reproduce "Egyptian Blue", one of the oldest synthetic pigments known to humanity.The discussion will take place next Sunday, March 1st, 2026, at 8 PM.Egyptian Blue is one of the earliest synthetic pigments ever made. More than 4,500 years ago, it was produced in ancient Egypt through fire, sand, copper, and salt — and then the recipe was largely forgotten. Over the past four years, artists Dina Danish and Jean-Baptiste Maitre have been working in Egypt to remake this pigment using locally sourced materials. Collaborating with potters, glass workers, and kiln builders in Cairo, they approach the project as an artistic investigation rather than a historical reconstruction — working through experimentation, failure, and repetition. In this talk, supported by the Mondrian Fund, they will share images and footage from the workshops, discuss their firing processes and material tests, and reflect on how this ancient blue behaves today — as powder, surface, and image. They will also touch on its near-infrared luminescence and its long association with protection, from the Eye of Horus to Nazar beads — a color that absorbs, reflects, and perhaps even looks back.
With special Thanks to Dr Salima Ikram, Abdallah Sakr and the team of CIC, John O'Carroll
TALK AT AUC - American University in Cairo : DIVINE COLOUR - Reconstructing Egyptian Blue in Egypt
In february 2026, we have presented and retraced our research and experiment around Egyptian Blue to the Students of the Nederlands-Vlaams Instituut in Cairo - NVIC (KU Leuven and Leiden University) and AUC - American University in Cairo.
DIVINE COLOUR - Reconstructing Egyptian Blue in Egypt
Dina Danish & Jean-Baptiste Maitre
American University in Cairo, 2026
With special Thanks to Dr Salima Ikram, Dr Ariel Singer, Dr Marleen De Meyer
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS at the conference Vision and Depiction - TU Delft - Technology University Delft
In February 2026, we were keynote speakers at the conference Vision and Depiction - II , from the 4-6 February 2026, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands.
We presented our research on the reconstruction of Egyptian Blue. We outlined the various stages of our journey—from our initial recreations in Egypt to the unique challenges and distinct variations we encountered while continuing our work in the Netherlands.
You can watch the video of our keynote at the conference on the website of TU Delft
STORY
Our project began in 2020, from a distant memory of a lecture by Dina's former Egyptology professor, Salima Ikram, who recounted the story of a man in Fayoum attempting to recreate the lost recipe for Egyptian synthetic blue. After learning he had passed away, we felt a strong urgency to preserve and carry forward the knowledge he had pursued. This became the starting point of our work. From 2023 to 2025 we spent time in Cairo reconstructing the pigment's original local recipe.
We were drawn to this pigment not only for its historical ties to protection from the Evil Eye in Egypt, but also for its remarkable material qualities—such as its ability to luminesce under infrared light. So far, we’ve developed around 50 test mixtures. After multiple firings, we produced a batch that the Cairo Museum of Egyptology confirmed as authentic Egyptian Blue.
Made by heating natural materials like sand and copper, this synthetic pigment resulted in a vivid blue used as a more accessible alternative to lapis lazuli, a stone long associated with holiness and the divine.
In September 2025, our blue experiments in Amsterdam have been thriving, thanks to the help of the ceramic workshop and Marianne at the Rijksakademie. After refining the recipes, we’re now producing a larger batch of pigment—laying the groundwork for new visual works that will be revealed in an upcoming exhibition.
