One of the large paintings on display in Cairo’s Zamalek Art Gallery shows a circus, painted in bright colors, where belly dancers dance joyfully as a band of elephants makes music and acrobats and a unicorn entertain a stone-faced audience. The prominent figure in the painting is a richly dressed clown, with a hat that resembles the pharaonic headdress.

“The clown symbolizes Egypt,” said Carelle Homsy, the artist. “Both Egyptians and foreigners think that Egypt is a poor country that does not know which direction it is heading — just like a clown. But, in fact, what the clown shows is the mask.”

“In my opinion, Egypt conducts its affairs in the same manner of its ancestors, the pharaohs. That is why the clown carries a royal crown and the scepter. Egypt will also punish anyone who thought that it [was in decline], and I expressed them by prisoners in the clown’s cloak,” she told Al-Monitor.

Egyptian expressionist artist Homsy’s work is part of the exhibition entitled “Masterpieces XVII” at the Zamalek Art Gallery in western Cairo. It is the 17th edition of the gallery’s summer exhibition. This year’s edition brings together 70 different paintings and sculptures of 36 artists.