Young Egyptian photographer Mai Ayman created a photo essay titled ‘People of Cairo’ about the various individuals in Cairo’s streets. She documented her interactions with them and captured their facial expressions to give us a glimpse of their professions and personalities. “[The professionals] are so familiar to any of us and they are not appreciated enough in our society despite their great roles and their importance,” Ayman says, “so I loved to show that they [the professionals] are important and that people do really care about them.” Ayman talks to Egyptian Streets about her journey throughout the project. Because Cairo is not necessarily a camera-friendly city, shooting in the streets without a permission was difficult. “We had the fear that any policemen sees us and insists on deleting the pictures, but we tried to avoid this by hiding the camera whenever we see any of them.” The fear was not only from authorities, many people refused to be on camera because they were scared these pictures would be used against them one way or another. Some trusted Ayman enough to consent to being photographed doing what they love, other refused….
Young Egyptian Photographer Documents Grass Root Professions in Cairo
January 15, 2019
