![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/21/multimedia/21wael-shawky-02-ctkq/21wael-shawky-02-ctkq-facebookJumbo.jpg)
The Egyptian Artist Wael Shawky Mesmerizes at the Venice Biennale
If you think a filmed opera sung entirely in classical Arabic that tells, in detail, the complex story of a relatively obscure, failed 19th-century uprising in Egypt might be something less than compelling, do I have news for you. Since the Venice Biennale …