During the wave of uprisings and resulting crackdowns on Islamists in Egypt in 2013, all the media outlets were accused of taking sides. “When you point a camera to a side you neglect the rest of the real scene,” a protester said to me. “People are following those media outlets that confirm what is already in their minds, not to get new information!” he added.
For this project, I have been shooting many events related to the latest waves of the uprising in Egypt including the police storming of the pro-Morsi sit-in at Rabaa al-Adaweya Square in August 2013 and the resulting massacre of over 800 people. I also photographed the celebrations of the removal of President Morsi from power in July 2013, the 2014 commemorations of the initial 25 January 2011 uprising, and various protests and marches. I also covered the constitutional referendum, the presidential election process, and the trials of Islamists.
I layered three exposures into each picture for several reasons. I faced a dilemma of how to depict the atrocity of the massacre in Rabaa without objectifying the suffering individuals. By juxtaposing multiple images I refrain from depicting what would be an unbearable concentration on just one face or scene. This method also enables me to create a visual noise that reflects the absence of any clear perspective on what really happened in Rabaa