On Monday, I wrapped up my War on Walls exhibit at St. Mark’s Cathedral.  It’s been an exciting few weeks sharing my War on Walls photography project and exhibit at St. Mark’s Cathedral gallery space. This exhibit has been many years in the making. This photography project began on the streets of Cairo during the Arab Spring, photographing Egypt’s Arab Spring street art. In addition, to being an important part of Egypt’s Arab Spring, the street art has also been an art movement based on strong asethics and drawing on art traditions and history from a variety of eras and time periods. It was the beauty and complex nature of this art movement, as well as it’s ability to address current events, that inspired and peaked my interest. I then spent the next three years curating and research the photographs and street art movement, publishing a book on Egypt’s Arab Spring street art, and now holding a photography exhibit of this project. It’s been a joy to share these photographs and the stories behind them. I was impressed by the diverse audience who visited the exhibits — the St. Mark’s community, Saudi Arabian students, UW graduate students focusing on Middle East studies, university professors, journalism students, the business community, members of the World Affairs Council, street artists, the Seattle community.

It’s been rewarding to see my photography project installed in the beautiful exhibit space of St. Mark’s Cathedral. The large, stain glass windows give the space gorgeous, diffused light that complements the photographs. This gallery space is a unique place to hold an exhibit. And it’s been such a joy to share this unique Arab Spring narrative and different perspective with the Seattle community.

This exhibit was made possible by grants from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture smARTVenture grant and the MidEast Ministry grant.

So what’s next? I will be heading back to the Middle East and North Africa for my women’s tours to the region. My company ArchaeoAdventures Tours has developed a new set of exciting women’s tours to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. I will be meeting with vendors, researching all the latest cultural events and current situations, and creating photographic and video content. For all the latest travel news and to get inspired for your next trip follow us on Facebook or ArchaeoAdventures’ blog.

Below are a few images of the exhibit.

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The exhibit has been going great! We had over 100 people attend the Sunday January 11th opening. I’ve received wonderful feedback from attendees and exhibit visitors.

I’m excited to announce that my exhibit War on Walls is being featured in an article in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Times. I recently sat with with reporter Kyle Jensen to discuss Egypt’s Arab Spring street art and my photography project to document this art movement.

Read the Capitol Hill Times article here.

War on Walls photography exhibit also was recently featured on ArtNet.

The online publication Planet Waves featured my War on Walls photography project and exhibit in their recent weekly subscriber edition.

The World Affair’s Council has also featured War on Walls on their website.  I will be the opening speaker at their upcoming Revisiting The Arab Spring event, which includes a panel discussion on the Arab Spring as well as a late night viewing of my photography exhibit.

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I’m excited to announce that we successfully installed the War on Walls exhibit today. I would like to thank the wonderful folks at the Visual Arts Ministry for the smooth installation. The exhibit looks breathtaking!

Panorama War on Walls Exhibit. Photo: Eirik Nalder.

This has been a three year journey. First on the streets of Cairo in 2012 photographing Egypt’s important and evocative Arab Spring street art. When I began this project in early 2012, I was working in Cairo, living in a hotel room facing onto Tahrir Square. The regime had toppled, former President Hosni Mubarak had been forced to resign a year earlier and presidential elections had been scheduled for June 2012, just a few months away. Tahrir Square teamed with individual protestors, formal political groups and random citizens, giving voice to every type of civil complaint – from politics and police to taxes, utility expenses, and traffic congestion.

Living on Tahrir Square, I observed the wall art grow and change to reflect current events and the demands for social, political and economic change. These increasingly complex, yet temporary murals were not political organs of any particular group. Rather, they were created and funded by the artists themselves, who spent thousands of Egyptian Pounds (EGP) to create these paintings, only to have the government eventually white wash the walls to remove them. Nonetheless, the wall art became more and more complex and expansive as the Arab Spring wore on.

I was inspired by the artists’ dedication to creating these complex, culturally significant expressions of the Egyptian peoples’ complaints and demands, knowing the ephemeral life that each masterpiece would have. The photographs gathered in this project are my effort to preserve some important examples of this extraordinary art movement.

It is my hope that War on Walls will convey not only the craft of these artists, but also the messages that inspired the street artists to express the soul and dreams of the Egyptian peoples’ revolution. These murals tell the story of Egypt’s Arab Spring through some of the most beautiful, expressive and iconic wall images ever created. War on Walls preserves important examples of this extraordinary art movement. The book aims to convey not only the craft of these artists, but also the messages that inspired the street artists to express the soul and dreams of the Egyptian peoples’ revolution. These murals tell the story of Egypt’s Arab Spring through some of the most beautiful, expressive and iconic wall images ever created.

This journey from inception of the project to the culmination in an exhibition has spanned 3 years, two hemispheres,

War on Walls Exhibit. St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, WA.

three continents and three countries – from Egypt to Australia to the US. Then a year researching and publishing the book War on Walls. And now the final phase — creating and producing an engaging exhibit of this body of work. For the past 6 months, I have been working on this exhibit. At times, it’s been another full time job, a job that I’ve loved and journey that has taught me a lot about exhibits, grants, fine art printing and framing. The result is a truly stunning set of 15 photographs located in an atmospheric and impressive exhibit space.

Please join me Sunday January 11, 2015 from 12:30pm – 3:30pm (I would like to thank the NFL for scheduling the Seahawks game on Saturday. Hats off to you guys. Nice planning.) at St. Mark’s Cathedral on Capitol Hill for the opening reception of this exhibit.

The exhibit runs from January 11, 2015 – February 15, 2015. It is free to the public, open daily 7am-7pm (except for Mass on Sunday).

TAKE A PIECE OF THE ARAB SPRING STREET ART HOME WITH YOU! The limited editions fine art prints that are hanging in the exhibit are available for sale. This is a one time printing using the highest quality ink, paper, hand cut matting and frame. The prints are available for purchase now, so purchase the print you would like early to ensure that you get the print you would like. Email me at genevieve@genevievehathaway.com for further questions or to purchase one of the prints.

Procession for the martyrs. Mohammed Mahmoud Street. Cairo, Egypt. War on Walls.<hr>

I would like to thank the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and St. Mark’s MidEast Ministry for their support in the form of grants and donations.

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War on Walls is now available as an 8×8 softcover through MagCloud!

War on Walls: Egypt's Arab Spring Street Art

By Genevieve Hathaway

68 pages, published 3/11/2014

War on Walls is a collection of extraordinary street art, created in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square during Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution. Street art was a defining feature of the Egyptian revolution: raising awareness of political and economic issues, pressuring the regime and governing bodies for change, injecting dark humor into turbulent times, and providing a visual memory of important events and individuals. The emerging street art…