Somewhere in Garden City, overlooking the Nile and Cairene rooftops, three artists have set up a space to creatively reimagine Egyptian knowledge and society. Farah Haballa, Halim Ramses, and Ali Zaraay call it “Studio 88”, or “a place where we draw” as they call it. They paint unusual images with and for those who try to make sense of contemporary Egypt through arts and culture. Entering their space is like stepping into a parallel Cairo that offers you different lenses through which to look at the city. Their photography projects and workshops for visual anthropology and critical Egyptology invite for a do-it-yourself exploration of time and space. How do the city’s enchantments help us question gentrification? What is Egyptian middle class identity made of? Do Cairene streets look the same to all pedestrians, or do maps change according to who is walking, and if so – why? Amidst plants and pictures of pop culture and political memories, these are some of the questions Studio 88 explores through workshops and film screenings. Anthropology bel3arabi Farah is a cultural practitioner and teaching fellow at the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences…
