Someone Loves Someone Else
These photographs were made in Cairo throughout March and April 2012, during the build up to Egypt’s first democratic elections. The early stages of the campaigns were exciting, emblematic of the next phase of the revolution — campaign rallies and demonstrations in favour of particular candidates were riotously ubiquitous. However, their repetitiveness made them almost theatrical, taking on a rehearsed appearance that is the staple of any election campaign.
I found myself drawn to the outskirts of the city, the areas away from the flashpoint of Tahrir Square, where the coverage had been little to none in the mainstream press. I was curious about how daily life in these peripheries has continued, or perhaps been disrupted, by the past year’s events. In these places I looked for signs of how this new political arena had become inextricably fused with the daily life of Cairo’s inhab-itants, how it had become woven into their everyday existence. The politicians were still everywhere, whether you wanted to look or not — posters hastily pasted onto every available surface, their airbrushed faces smiling outwards.
The ‘street’ in Cairo is symbolic, now almost a byword used to describe the general mood of the politically active, a barometer for a movement’s next motion. This mood became my point of departure, whilst I looked to the city — how it inhaled and paused, before the next exhalation.
Looking north from Moqattam, a settlement comprising both an affluent suburb and slums in south-eastern Cairo.
Tahrir Square, following a sandstorm.
Downtown.
Moqattam.
Zamalek.
A woman checks her blackberry outside the state television and radio centre, Maspero.
Helwan, a southern suburb of Cairo.
At a bus station, downtown.
A boy peers through an opening in the window of Pizza Hut in Tahrir Square.
Mohamed, a young hotel worker, eats breakfast at his apartment in Giza following a night shift.
A man prays in a monastery behind Cairo's main Coptic Christian cathedral in the district of Abbasiya. Egypt's Coptic residents have been estimated as being between 8 to 15% of the country's 82 million population. The Coptic community has faced an uncertain future since the revolution, fearing persecution by Islamist groups and rejection from the political process.
Helwan.
Supporters of Khairat El-Shater clasp hands during an election rally.
The burnt-out ex-headquarters of Hosni Mubarak's former National Democratic Party. The site has since become a symbol of the 2011 revolution.
Moqattam.
Beside Maspero, on a street leading into Bulaq.
Tahrir Square.
Above Tahrir Square during a large friday protest, in which tens of thousands of supporters of both Islamist and secular parties gathered to demonstrate against the perceived efforts of the ruling generals to obstruct the electoral process and maintain power.
Metro exit, downtown.
A rally for former presidential candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood, Khairat El-Shater. El-Shater was later barred from running by Egypt's ruling military generals.
Residents watch as a demonstration passes by below their apartment block.
Supporters of Salafi politician Hazem Salah Abu Ismail protest against the disqualification of his candidacy in the presidential election, outside a courtroom in the district of Dokki.
Conversations, downtown.
Friday protest, Tahrir Square.
Backstreets of Tahrir Square.
A view of Zamalek from 6 October Bridge.
Moqattam.
Helwan.