Photography

As the 25 January Revolution got under way and grew from strength to strength, six young Egyptian photographers found themselves following and documenting the events in different parts of Cairo, and converging—as the demonstrations converged—on what became the focal point of the revolution, Tahrir Square. Between them they photographed many of the unprecedented and startling events around the city and in the square, from the early battles of the protesters against heavily armed security forces, through the attacks by paid thugs on camel and horseback, and the peaceful occupation of Tahrir Square, to the victory celebrations and the inspiring clean-up afterward. Together in this stunning visual record they present the days of the revolution in sequence, from tear gas to tears of joy, picturing a story of determination and courage that inspired the world.

When Egyptians began demonstrating against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak on 25 January 2011, few could anticipate that the demonstrations would grow into a revolution to astonish the world. Millions of Egyptians were soon joining in every day in cities across the country, but Tahrir Square became the beating heart of the revolution, its center, its life force, and its spirit, a spirit that was peaceful, inclusive, creative, and determined. Swedish photographer Mia Gröndahl returned day after day to the square, to record the incredible tent city within a city that would not budge until the president did, and to capture the great humanity of the revolution that impressed Cairo, Egypt, and the world. This book presents a selection of Mia’s moving photographs from those historic days, along with the testimony in words of some of the people who were there.

John Feeney arrived in Egypt in 1963 to make a documentary film, intending to stay for one year and staying forty. Photographing Egypt brings together some of his now rare color photographs of Egypt, taken over the past forty years and displayed in a major retrospective exhibition of his work in March 2005 at the American University in Cairo’s Sony Gallery. The photographs depict the epic grandeur of Egypt, and include historic pictures of Gamal Abd al-Nasser’s funeral cortege leaving Qasr al-Nil Bridge and of the last Nile flood to come to Egypt, as well as aspects of the country rarely dealt with previously—the unique domes of Cairo, the extraordinary multicolored pavilions of the Tentmakers’ Street, the gathering of jasmine blossoms in the Nile Delta, the search for the elusive desert truffle, the shadow puppet plays of Cairo’s street theater, and the hammams of the medieval city. The photographs are accompanied by extracts from the photographer’s narration to his Nile film Fountains of the Sun, and from his essays that have appeared over the years in Aramco World Magazine.

One of the many striking things about Egypt’s 25 January Revolution as manifested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square was the imagination and creativity of the posters, placards, and signs that the protesters wore, waved, or hung from buildings, fences, and lampposts day by day throughout the demonstrations. These emotive messages displayed a range of visual inventiveness and linguistic dexterity (in Arabic, English, and several other languages) that expressed very powerful feelings yet often entertained at the same time. Egyptian amateur photographer Karima Khalil here gathers images taken by herself and others of these messages, showing their great variety, from the simple and repeated Irhal (“Leave”), written in a hundred different ways, to poems, rhyming slogans, puns, jokes, and tributes to the martyrs killed by security forces in the protests. These messages, captured by more than thirty photographers, form a compelling visual record of a people’s long suppressed hopes and desires.

Graffiti began in Gaza in 1987, during the first Intifada, when there was no Palestinian television or radio in the Gaza Strip, and no newspapers: the messages that spread along the walls became an important means of communication. Over the years, all political groups have had their own graffiti artists. Scrawl is not tolerated—it has to look good. Hamas even offers evening classes in graffiti. Documenting the writings on the walls of Gaza over a period of seven years, celebrated Swedish photojournalist Mia Gröndahl lays before us the many roles that they perform, the colorful and surprising range of their artistic expression, and their reflection of the changing political situation. And apart from political slogans, the walls bear witness too to joy and sadness: the wedding celebrations, the many victims of the conflict, and the ever present hope of peace and freedom. For us on the outside, Mia Gröndahl’s photographs offer an exciting and unexpected view of life in Gaza.