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.