Global Heshmat — Following Hassan Heshmat around the world

Kamal es-Sarrag (1934-2012) was a painter and professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, and as of 1986 Dean of the Faculty President of Helwan University. He is particularly known for his abstract treatment of the Arabic letter س (sin), which became a defining element of his work from the late 1960s onward. es-Sarrag was married to Heshmat’s daughter Sohair Heshmat (1947-2021). As her brother Alaa Heshmat (b. 1955), Sohair worked with ceramics, sometimes reproducing her father’s works, sometimes developing her own style. Two other daughters from his first marriage with Zeinab Hegasy, Sonia (b. 1949) and Magda (b. 1953) did not venture into the art scene. His son Bassam (1965-1990) from his second marriage with Madiha el-Gaky (1930-2019) died at the age of 25.