Revolution Graffiti

Book excerpt: The Egyptian Revolution that began on 25 January 2011 immediately gave rise to a wave of popular political and social expression in the form of graffiti and street art, phenomena that were almost unknown in the country under the old regime. Mia Gröndahl, the photographer of Gaza Graffiti: Messages of Love and Politics and Tahrir Square: The Heart of the Egyptian Revolution, has followed and documented the constantly and rapidly changing graffiti art of the new Egypt from its beginnings, and here in more than 400 full-color images celebrates the imagination, the skill, the humor, and the political will of the young artists and activists who have claimed the walls of Cairo and other Egyptian cities as their canvas. From the simplest hand-written messages, through stencils and martyr portraits, to the elaborate murals of Mohamed Mahmoud Street, the messages on the walls are presented in themed sections-Revolution & Freedom, Egyptian & Proud, Cross & Crescent, Martyrs & Heroes-punctuated by interviews with some of the individual artists whose work has broken fresh ground.