In the district of Old Cairo there are many cemeteries and cultural heritage sites that the community has strong ties with. Amongst the graves live a number of families who either work as keepers of the graves and the land surrounding them, or have simply moved to live there due to poverty. In 2022, The government announced that parts of different cemeteries were going to be moved/demolished to make way for the construction of roads and bridges. When I was still a university student, my professors would take us to different parts of Old Cairo to observe the architecture, learn about its history, and make drawings that document the state of the area. I was already familiar with how people lived there before the decision to demolish the cemeteries was issued, and I had many conflicting feelings in regards to the presence of the living in a space that’s meant for the dead alone. There are no facilities in that area, very little to no running water, and no plumbing. It’s a very hard life that no one would choose if given a better alternative, and those people had none even when they were faced with the possibility of losing what little life they’ve built for themselves amongst the dead and the wailing of their mourners.
In a sense, all the bodies in that area, living or otherwise, are being overlooked, swept aside and built over. Realistically, there is nothing I could do to help. However, after speaking with some of the people in the area I decided to make Concave: Padding of The Earth as an attempt to work out the layered relationships and dynamics that exist in the cemeteries. I choose the colour green to depict the bodies because green symbolizes life, and in some cultures, the afterlife as well. This artwork was initially exhibited at Darb1718’s Art Festival in 2022 in Cairo, Egypt, and a new version of it was shown at My Words For Yours in Hamburg, Germany in 2023.
Artist | Rawan Abbas 