Kanzy Mahmoud
Class Struggle:
The theme of my final project is class struggle. It revolves around the extreme discrepancies between social classes in Egypt, especially in the Fifth Settlement area (Tagamo’o), where on the one hand, there are very poor people conducting informal business trying to make ends meet while on the other hand, there are very wealthy people residing in the area, owning houses worth 2 to 3 million Egyptian pounds and more. The clash between both classes was very intriguing to depict and that is why it needed to be photographed. However, the focus of the camera was on those less fortunate people. Going through the streets of Tagamo’o, the stories that one encounters are incredible. Apparently the latter area houses many informal businesses that are considered illegal. Some of them are renting truck drivers paid by the hour to build other establishments in the area, others are selling vegetables and fruits on the street, and others sell breakfast, such as beans (foul) and tea or even raw seafood while some are selling flowers. Approaching those workers, they explained that their conditions have really worsened since nobody is buying. For example, the truck drivers have no offers to work, especially that they are getting continuously harassed by the police. This explains why many of the street vendors refused to get their photos taken. They would shout out “The apparatus!,” meaning the Central Intelligence Police because they are very likely to get arrested if their photos were locally published and their faces recognized. Others agreed for the merchandise to be photographed but not their faces. The underlying reason was fear of the police. Some would even joke, saying: “Well, it was nice knowing you!” Although it was a joke it was far from funny, rather tragic.
On the other hand, other vendors were really nice and welcoming and even posed for the photos, wanting their pictures to be taken, as if the camera made them feel important or valuable. It is very refreshing to see this kind of simplicity and kindness among rigid luxurious buildings and rugged wealthy people.
Class Struggle:
The theme of my final project is class struggle. It revolves around the extreme discrepancies between social classes in Egypt, especially in the Fifth Settlement area (Tagamo’o), where on the one hand, there are very poor people conducting informal business trying to make ends meet while on the other hand, there are very wealthy people residing in the area, owning houses worth 2 to 3 million Egyptian pounds and more. The clash between both classes was very intriguing to depict and that is why it needed to be photographed. However, the focus of the camera was on those less fortunate people. Going through the streets of Tagamo’o, the stories that one encounters are incredible. Apparently the latter area houses many informal businesses that are considered illegal. Some of them are renting truck drivers paid by the hour to build other establishments in the area, others are selling vegetables and fruits on the street, and others sell breakfast, such as beans (foul) and tea or even raw seafood while some are selling flowers. Approaching those workers, they explained that their conditions have really worsened since nobody is buying. For example, the truck drivers have no offers to work, especially that they are getting continuously harassed by the police. This explains why many of the street vendors refused to get their photos taken. They would shout out “The apparatus!,” meaning the Central Intelligence Police because they are very likely to get arrested if their photos were locally published and their faces recognized. Others agreed for the merchandise to be photographed but not their faces. The underlying reason was fear of the police. Some would even joke, saying: “Well, it was nice knowing you!” Although it was a joke it was far from funny, rather tragic.
On the other hand, other vendors were really nice and welcoming and even posed for the photos, wanting their pictures to be taken, as if the camera made them feel important or valuable. It is very refreshing to see this kind of simplicity and kindness among rigid luxurious buildings and rugged wealthy people.