E16 - Yara Mekawei, “Feed on Wasted Energy”

Yara Mekawei (Egypt)
“Feed on Wasted Energy” (2025)

A plate: rice, tomato, broccoli, grapes—
bacon’s grease bleeding into pomegranate molasses. Arugula wilts under the weight of silence.



Three girls. A man of forty winters.
Yellow light pools behind him, a dim coronet,
as he dissects his meal—slow, methodical—
unmoved by untouched plates, by glances
stitched in secret between daughters.
Years grind like tectonic plates here:
no accidents, only faith’s brittle geometry.
Everything interlocks. Nothing happens—
until the door cracks open.
A stranger arrives, unannounced.
Chef—they murmur—his beard a sculpture
of charisma, laughter coiled in his throat.
The room stiffens. Minutes drip like wax.
Then, his demand: A cup of milk.
He plucks it from the man’s grip, smirks:
I smoked here once. Drank milk. No law
but my own.
Wild law unfolds—
a parallax of gazes. Now, all frames shift:
each body a galaxy in motion, velocity constant,
paths straitjacketed yet relative. No anchor.
No axis absolute. Only the algebra of collision:
milk spilled, smoke lingering, plates orbiting
the gravity of what goes unsaid.

Yara Mekawei
is a sonic artist and scholar exploring the intersection of sound, architecture, and urban landscapes. Her work transforms the rhythm of cities into immersive auditory experiences, where sonic narratives merge with visual form. Rooted in deep research, Mekawei bridges antiquity and modernity, drawing from Sufi philosophy and The Book of the Dead to craft compositions that resonate with memory, identity, and cultural heritage. Her practice dissolves boundaries between past, present, and sonic visions.