In Inji Efflatoun’s life, there were long talks of leaked dreams, where freedom plastered every tongue, and art dominated all conversations — Inji Efflatoun was a dreamer, an artist, and an activist: a rebel with a cause. Efflatoun’s roots bear aristocracy and wealth; she was born into an upper-class French-speaking family in 1924. Her father, Hassan Efflatoun was a scientist who established a department of entomology at the Cairo University, and her mother, Sahla Efflatoun was an unusually independent woman for her day. Efflatoun’s parents divorced when she was a child, and her single mother, who inspired her, established Maison Sahla, a fashion and textile boutique in Cairo,. From a young age, Efflatoun was sheltered into a life detached from Egyptian society, one that was deeply integrated in wealth and opulent in comfort. She was enrolled at the College du Sacré-Coeur, a French Catholic school in Cairo that was famous for its discipline. The school’s rigid system and strictiness fueled her first steps towards rebellion, and she later transferred to the Lycée Français du Caire, a prestigious secular French school in Cairo. There, Efflatoun was introduced to political philosophy, learning…
