The next photograph in my series of posts from Egypt’s ’18 day revolution’ is of a young male protestor in Midan Tahrir. He is proudly displaying his anti-Mubarak slogan on the back of his jumper, which loosely translates ‘Ya Mubarak, see you on the next plane at the airport’. Sentiments like these filled Liberation Square, not only through posters, but chanting as well.
Protestors often approached me with their banners asking me to take their photograph with the hope I would spread their words and hopeful messages. What I most commonly heard was “we are not terrorists”, “we are peaceful people” and “we just want our freedom”.
As I was one of only a few Westerners in the square, I was often mistaken for a journalist (obviously my puny handheld camera didn’t scream ‘unprofessional’ enough!) and this proved to be both a boon and a bane. On the one hand, I had lots of people posing for photographs with their banners (as displayed here), but on the other hand, people were more hesitant to share their stories. This changed, however, once they realised I didn’t have any media affiliation and I was learning Arabic. It was then that they felt much more at ease.
Photography and post by Melanie Pitkin, Curator
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