Nadine Abdellatif

Kashf and Ward el Medan offer a focused depiction of the events of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, and the crimes committed against the country’s women. Kashf utilizes a collage approach to evoke a moment in which female protestors were detained by the army and subjected to invasive searches, torture, and “virginity testing,” while male soldiers photographed them, and threatened prostitution charges. Fragments of one of the victim’s official court documents are combined with images that portray the silencing and policing of women. Meanwhile, Ward el Medan pays homage to the women of the revolution using the iconography of the gas mask to anchor the piece to its political context.

Lyrics to the Egyptian singer Mohamed Nouh’s political song Ya Balady are scattered in Kashf, detailing his devotion and care to his country by personifying Egypt as a woman. This exemplifies the irony of the society’s willingness to express adoration of the feminine through national symbolism, while women and girls continuously face violence at the hands of its patriarchal, militant society. For Egyptian women, there have always been two revolutions: one fought against the oppressive regime, and another against the misogyny that permeates the region, disguised as culture and tradition.