sayeda . women in egypt .

Dublin Core

Title

sayeda . women in egypt .

Subject

Motivation: Part of my family is originally from French Algiers, but when I set out on this project, I had never visited an Arab country before. I like to encounter foreign worlds to learn about other cultures and people. Photography offers an opportunity, a way in. As a photographer, I am interested in the individual circumstances of people or different groups in the population; often these are people who live on the periphery of society or as a minority, either because of their jobs, their religion or life situation.

When the Arab Spring broke out in 2011 and the affected countries were in the media spotlight, I became more concerned with current events and began reading lots of newspaper pieces. Around the same time in 2012, I read a pivotal article written by Egyptian-American journalist and feminist Mona El Tahawy “Why do they hate us?“ which addresses misogyny in Islam. It was like being electrified. I wanted to understand more, and so decided to travel to Egypt to get to know the world of these women: their daily routines, their wishes, dreams and concerns. I wanted to know how differences in social position, religion, education, age and class defined the scope of their lives. The reports about the rapes at Tahrir Square in 2012 and 2013 convinced me of the necessity of this plan.

Preparing for the series was sometimes tedious and tough. Luckily, I had friends in Cairo who could tell me a lot about the country and who opened up a lot of doors for me. Films and books, news and newspaper reports provided more information on how Egyptian society developed over the last fifty years and how it runs today. When I received the grant from VG Bild Kunst for the project, the whole thing became much more concrete and I could finally plan the trip.

Description

SAYEDA is a photographic work about women in Egypt. I travelled to Egypt on various occasions to do portraits and interviews with women from different walks of life.

Many people in Egypt fight against violations of human, and in particular, women´s rights. In my work, I approached Egyptian women from different social environments whose position in society depends on religion, education, age and socio-economic situation. This work explores the issue of what it means to be a woman in egypt today.

I am so thankful to all women I had the great pleasure to meet, listen to and learn from!

I received a grant from the german foundation “VG Bild Kunst” for this project. I was also award the “Grenzgänger” Scholarship from the Literarisches Colloqium Berlin and the Robert Bosch Foundation, and this work was supported by the Goethe Institute in Cairo.

To see all portraits and read all interviews and also wondeful essays by political scientist Hoda Salah and art historian Franziska Schmidt, please have a look at the book:
Amélie Losier, SAYEDA. Frauen in Ägypten. Women in Egypt. Femmes d’Égypte, at editions Nimbus. Kunst und Bücher, 2017, isbn 978-3-03850-037-7 (in German, English and French)

Creator

Amélie Losier

Source

http://www.amelielosier.com/sayeda-women-egypt-portraits-and-street-photography

Publisher

Date

2014 –2017

Rights

Approved to publish

Relation

Commissioned/supported/financed:
  • grant from the german foundation “VG Bild Kunst”
  • “Grenzgänger” scholarship from the Literarisches Colloqium Berlin and the Robert Bosch Foundation
  • supported by the Goethe Institute in Cairo

Format

This archive only includes a selection of photos from the project. To see the whole project please visit the artists website.

Language

English, French, German

Type

Portrait photography, street photography

Coverage

Location: Cairo and aroud, Alexandria, Sadat City and Tunis el Fayoum on the countryside.

Items in the sayeda . women in egypt . Collection

05amelielosier-2015-noura-resized-9015_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
07amelielosier-2014-egypt-mayelhossamy-resized-4874_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
10amelielosier-2014-egypt-samah-resized-5219_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
11amelielosier-2014-egypt-monafarragabdelati-resized-7880_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
19amelielosier-2014-egypt-dounia-resized-8151_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
21amelielosier-2014-egypt-rawya-resized-8991_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
25amelielosier-201502-nada-resized-0847_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
31amelielosier-2014-egypt-angiebalata-resized-9860_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
35amelielosier-2014-egypt-zeinabsabet-resized-9796_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier
39amelielosier-2015-heba-resized-0485_copie.jpg

Amélie Losier

View all 11 items