Egyptian-Italian Model and Former Libyan Princess Team Up To Empower Luxor Kids

Egyptian-Italian-French model and humanitarian Elisa Sednaoui Dellal came together with guest curator, former Princess of Libya Alia Al-Senussi, to host a ‘Contemporary Curated’ artwork auction in London last Tuesday.

In the name of the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation’s ‘Funtasia’ project, ten of the works collected were sold at London’s prestigious - and one of the world’s largest - brokers of fine and decorative art, Sotheby’s.

Some of the pieces were donated to the auction by Arab artists including Egyptian Youssef Nabil and Basim Magdy, Lebanese-American Etel Adnan, and the Tunisian Nadia Ayari. Nabil’s ‘Faten Hamama’ piece, a 2008 print of the Egyptian icon, was among those sold for the cause for 8,750 GBP, after an initial estimate of 7,000 - 8,000 GBP.

Born in Italy and having spent her childhood in Egypt, Sednaoui Dellal took to Instagram to thank the contributing artists and the Sotheby’s team for their efforts in bringing this auction together, and for inviting her and Funtasia Board Member Al-Senussi - “the girls of the desert... one from Libya, one from Luxor” - to curate.

“Thank you for choosing to support Funtasia and helping us put together this fantastic group of works,” she wrote. “It’s honestly been a tremendous gift to see you all making everything possible.”

The Funtasia Cultural Centre in Luxor runs after-school activities and caters to local children with ages ranging from 4 to 16 years old. The hands-on learning experiences and programmes involve locally trained facilitators teaching youngsters artistic skills like photography, painting, sculpture and film directing. They also teach a variety of other valuable life skills, such as gardening, poetry, nutrition, health and even coding, all to improve their capacity for character-building, team-building and developing their communication skills.

Funtasia currently operates in over 15 different locations in Italy and Egypt, including public schools. More than 5,920 children and youth have received support from Funtasia, and over 700 adults have undergone training by them.