Sister, Oh Sister

Sister, Oh Sister is a photographic series exploring a first-person account of the experience of womanhood in Cairo. It recontextualizes extracted elements within the Egyptian vernacular culture, in order to create alternative representations of womanhood

Sister, Oh Sister (اختي يا اختي) is a photographic series exploring a first-person account of the experience of womanhood in Cairo. The series recontextualizes extracted elements within the Egyptian vernacular culture, in order to create alternative representations of womanhood.

Each photograph questions the validity of the components of “so-called” femininity, which are inevitably reinforced by subconscious, established, quasi dictatorial patriarchal norms. From the personified role hair plays in Arab communities, as a means to govern feminine comportment and belittle the essence of womanhood, to the consumption of the female body by the gaze, as well as to the empowerment sisterhood can offer as a safe space for women to exist. The photos flirt with the boundary between hyper-femininity and religiosity.

Sister, Oh Sister intends to provoke the categories Arab women have been limited to painfully squeeze in, and create a decolonized space for self-representation, self-definition and self-validation.