Tag Archives: War on Walls

War on Walls Featured In Aspect:Ratio Magazine of Photography

Nov
18
2015
by genevievehathaway | 0 Comments

I’m excited to announce that my photography project, War on Walls, has been published in the British photography magazine Aspect: Ratio Magazine of Photography. War on Walls is a photography project to document the 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 street artists’ work featured revolutionary slogans, criticisms of the government, portraits of government figures, tributes to martyrs, comments on social issues, and depictions of key revolutionary events. The emerging street art movement was a creative expression of the Egyptian people’s frustration and desire for freedom, as well as a way to physically reclaim space in Cairo as belonging to the people rather than the government.

Alaa Awad painted this scene showing bulls fighting, a reference to the Ancient Egyptian Apis Bull, a symbol of power and authority. This mural was designed to translate the chaos, pain and uncertainty Egyptians were feeling. Mohamed Mahmoud street, Cairo, Egypt.

Alaa Awad painted this scene showing bulls fighting, a reference to the Ancient Egyptian Apis Bull, a symbol of power and authority. This mural was designed to translate the chaos, pain and uncertainty Egyptians were feeling. Mohamed Mahmoud street, Cairo, Egypt.

Aspect: Ratio Magazine of Photography is a London-based biannual magazine for contemporary photojournalism. This publication is a wonderful, independent voice in the current media sphere that helps photographers and photojournalists share the stories that matter and the stories which need to be told.

I’m very honored to have War on Walls featured in the latest issue of Aspect:Ratio and to be included with a group of wonderful and very talented photographers who are sharing a wide range of powerful stories they cover and care about deeply.

You can read my War on Walls photo essay and article here. And check out this 4th edition of Aspect:Ratio in its entirety here. If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe to this wonderful magazine and support the great work they do.

Aspect Ratio Image

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Upcoming Lecture: American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) – Ancient Egyptian Iconography in the Egypt Arab Spring Street Art

Nov
05
2015
by genevievehathaway | 0 Comments

Dear Friends, Family and Fellow Travelers

I’m tremendously excited to announce that I will be speaking that the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE)’s Northwest Chapter on December 3rd at the University of Washington. I will be lecturing on the use of ancient Egyptian iconography in the Arab Spring street art. Speaking at the very prestigious American Research Center in Egypt is a dream com true, though not quite how I expected.

ARCE image_2

Started in 1948, the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is a nonprofit organization which supports research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, encourages broader knowledge about Egypt among the general public, and strengthens American-Egyptian cultural relations. ARCE funds many of the top archaeology research and conservation projects in Egypt. Its work is critical in both learning about Ancient Egyptian culture, but also in preserving the antiquities. ARCE is one of the most prestigious organizations in the archaeology field – not just in Egyptology. You can thank them for the fact that you can still walk the halls of Karnak. get up close and personal with the New Kingdom Pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings, that we know that slaves (and aliens ) did NOT build the pyramids, any many other of the major archaeological finds and also that the sites are preserved enough for us to visit them.

I attended my very first ARCE lecture as an archaeology student at the University of Washington. I was studying Egyptology; it was exciting to be able to listen to presentations by top Egyptologists. I attended as many ARCE lectures as I could, listening to research by greats such as Dr. Mark Lehner, Dr. Kent Weeks, Gay Robbins, Dr. Salima Ikram, and many others. I attended my first ARCE conference shortly after graduating university when the annual ARCE conference was held in Seattle. Attending presentations by Dr. Mark Lehner (We can thank him for pretty much everything we known about the workers who built the Great Pyramid.) and Dr. Gunter Dreyer (His work at Abydos and Umm el-Qa’ab is legendary. Without Dr. Dreyer we’d know very little about the earliest, most powerful Pharaohs.) were two big bucket list items I was able to check off at this conference. I thought that someday I might speak at ARCE through archaeological research and study. Then life took me down another path — to climbing, running a magazine, traveling and photography. Life has a funny way of coming full circle in the most unexpected ways.

Dug up this old phot from the 2008 ARCE conference. Making new archaeology friends at the ARCE conference.

Dug up this old photo from the 2008 ARCE conference. Making new archaeology friends and sharing a love for Egyptology. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway.

Seeing the legendary Dr. Gunter Dreyer speak. We can thank him for knowing so much about the first dynasty pharaohs.

Seeing the legendary Dr. Gunter Dreyer speak. We can thank him for knowing so much about the first dynasty pharaohs. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway

 

Aerial view of Medinet Habu, Ramses III's Mortuary Temple. One of the many places where ARCE funds research and conservation. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway.

Aerial view of Medinet Habu, Ramses III’s Mortuary Temple. One of the many places where ARCE funds research and conservation. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway.

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War on Walls Exhibit is NOW OPEN

Jan
16
2015
by genevievehathaway | 0 Comments

I’m excited to announce that my exhibit War on Walls: Egypt’s Arab Spring Street Art is now open to the public! On Sunday we held the opening reception for the exhibit and it was a smashing success with a huge guest attendance!

Details on Exhibit:

St. Mark’s Cathedral Nave
Capitol Hill, Seattle
January 11 – February 15, 2015
Daily 7am-7pm; free to public

To purchase one of the limited edition fine art prints from the exhibit contact genevieve@geneveivehathaway.coom (note they are going fast so purchase yours before they are sold out).

My exhibit War on Walls is now open to the public. Stop by St. Mark's Cathedral to look at this groundbreaking photography project.

My exhibit War on Walls is now open to the public. Stop by St. Mark’s Cathedral to look at this groundbreaking photography project. Photo courtesy of Truc Allen Media.

War on Walls has been a 3 year long journey to photograph the Arab Spring street art, publish the project as a book and now hold it as an exhibit. During that time, I also had a number of public speaking engagements on the topic at conferences and universities. From Cairo, to Melbourne, to Seattle, to Brown University to Oregon State University, this project spanned three continents, three countries, and two hemispheres. (Who knows what’s next, maybe a traveling exhibit??? And exhibit in Europe. If you have connections or ideas drop me an email, I’d love to hear from you!)

For me this journey began back in 2003 when I was studying Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. At that time, the AUC campus was located on Tahrir Square. I studied Egypt’s most famous pharaohs and ancient piles of rubble on the street where the largest massacres and protests of Egypt’s revolution took place. Though today AUC’s campus is outside of Cairo at the town of Heliopolis, the former AUC campus on Tahrir Square and Mohammed Mahmoud street is still used as admin buildings, bookshops and libraries. Most of the images shown from Egypt’s revolution and these street art images in this exhibit took place in front of the buildingswhere I studied in 2003. Behind the image of Mubarak and Tantawi’s faces merged together, that is where I had a Cultural Geography Class. The image of the two bulls fighting that looks reminiscent of Guernica, behind that wall was the building where I would use the computer lab. (They had a fleet of dot matrix printers, so old I had never seen one but knew the perforated edges that you tear off. ) This personal connection to the streets and buildings where Egypt’s revolution took place made the Arab Spring and this project to photograph its street art even more personal.

Fastforward to 2012.  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.

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.

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. I was inspired by the artists’ dedication to creating these complex, culturally significant expressions of Egypt’s Arab Spring. For me, photography is a powerful tool to change perspectives and share untold stories. In creating these photographs, I intend to show a different side to Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution – the ability of art to change individual’s perspectives and impact larger social movements.

I hope you enjoy the exhibit! Email me at genevieve@genevievehathaway.com with thoughts or questions or post them in the comments.

Thank you to St. Mark’s Visual Arts Ministry, MidEast Ministry and also the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture for their support of this exhibit.

Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt, Exhibition, Media, Photos, Prints, Public Speaking Also tagged , , , , , |

War on Walls Exhibit Update

Dec
16
2014
by genevievehathaway | 0 Comments

My upcoming Exhibition, War on Walls: Egypt’s Arab Spring street art, is moving into its final phase of preparation. For those

Alaa Awad painted this scene showing bulls fighting, a reference to the Ancient Egyptian Apis Bull, a symbol of power and authority. This mural was designed to translate the chaos, pain and uncertainty Egyptians were feeling. Mohamed Mahmoud street, Cairo, Egypt.

Alaa Awad painted this scene showing bulls fighting, a reference to the Ancient Egyptian Apis Bull, a symbol of power and authority. This mural was designed to translate the chaos, pain and uncertainty Egyptians were feeling. Mohamed Mahmoud street, Cairo, Egypt.

who haven’t heard, I’m displaying my photography project War on Walls in Seattle January 11- February 15, 2015. War on Walls is a photography project to document Egypt’s important and provocative Arab Spring street art. 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 street artists’ work featured revolutionary slogans, criticisms of the government, portraits of government figures, tributes to martyrs, comments on social issues, and depictions of key events. The emerging street art movement was a creative expression of the Egyptian people’s frustration and desire for freedom, as well as a way to physically reclaim space in Cairo as belonging to the people rather than the government.

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 in this exhibit are my effort to preserve some important examples of this extraordinary art movement.

I’m in the processing of printing and framing the 15 stunning images that will comprise the bulk of the exhibit (this limited

Exhibit prints all printed. Ready for framing!

Exhibit prints all printed. Ready for framing!

edition prints will be available for purchase after the exhibit closes). I’ve been learning a lot about what it takes to fund, put together and hold and exhibition. Turns out its only 20% exhibition and 80% researching, grant writing, coordinating, designing the exhibit and emails, emails, emails. I’m excited to be in the home stretch. I just visited my amazing printer, The Color Group, and picked up all my prints. They look gorgeous and do justice to both the photographs and the street art. Dropping off the prints at my framer, Juanita who owns Frame It, I can see this exhibit being ready to install in January 9th. Stay tuned for all the details on the exhibition opening and evening events.

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Behind The Scenes: Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change in Latin America and the Middle East Conference

Oct
19
2013
by genevievehathaway | 0 Comments

Last week, I participated as a panelist and speaker in Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change in Latin America and the Middle East Conference. Brown University’s Watson

At Brown University's Social Media and Political Change conference. I spoke on Egypt's Arab Spring street art. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

At Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change conference. I spoke on Egypt’s Arab Spring street art. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

Institute asked me to speak on the Arab Spring street art movement in Egypt. Over the past two years, I’ve been completing a project called War on Walls — researching and photographing Egypt’s most important, iconic, provocative and creative Arab Spring street art. I was honored to be able to share this project and topic I am passionate about with conference attendees and the interwebs via the webcast the Watson Institute set up to live stream the conference. (You can still catch the conference in its entirety here: http://mediacapture.brown.edu:8080/ess/echo/presentation/4a890168-7e38-49f9-a691-80ab4684b3e9)

Brown University is a beautiful campus located close to the center of Providence, Rhode Island. I was lucky to visit on a sunny Fall day. The leaves were changing on the trees, filling the streets with bright yellows, tawny reds and burnt oranges. I love old architecture. I spent quite a bit of time during my stay in Providence wandering the 400 year old cobblestone streets lined with elegant colonial mansions painted an assortment of pastel and bright colors. Brown University’s main campus is comprised of a series of stately brick and columned buildings organized around grass courtyards.

The conference began with the showing of the Film “NO”, which followed the Chilean NO campaign that ousted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and NO campaign director Genaro Arriagada. Both spoke about the NO campaign in Chile.

 

The first panel of the conference with speakers Ricardo Lagos, Diamela Eltit, Jorge Arrate, and Genaro Arriagada. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

The first panel of the conference with speakers Ricardo Lagos, Diamela Eltit, Jorge Arrate, and Genaro Arriagada. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

The next morning, the conference continued with a panel discussing political change in Chile. The panel included former President of Chile and Professor-at-Large of Brown University Ricardo Lagos, Director of the NO campaign and former Chilean Ambassador to the US Genaro Arriagada, Chilean writer and Distinguished Global Professor of Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University Diamela Eitit, and former Chilean Minister Jorge Arrate. My draw dropped when I first learned of that powerhouse panel. And they delivered riveting discussions. The panel discussed how change took place in Chile and how it was or was not successful.

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