Who Cairos ?

2012-2014 - Cairo, Egypt

Away from the heart of the revolution, Tahrir Square, I have roamed around this ancient, so ancient city of Cairo. For decades, Egypt has been stagnating quite formidably. I edited this kind of visual metaphor going through my archives of several trip to the city during two years. It feels as if the great majority of people are totally resigned and left hopeless or wish-less, prefering a status quo. To walk about the capital means being faced with extreme decay and like in a time capsule. Another metaphoric vision of this state of deliquescence is nicely expressed in one of street artist Ganzeer's graffiti, the cat-man, painted on a wall close to Tahrir Square: the artist explains this is an anthropomorphic representation of the Egyptian people: a smart creature but stripped from its old glorious times, facing now a deep identity crisis.
Now is a transition period, Mubarak is no more, replaced by the marechal Al Sissi, from whom one should not expect much ; the military regime he rules over must have ideas for the society as dusty and stale as the city of Cairo can be.