“This book, is an act within our revolution – our continuing revolution.” Ahdaf Soueif, Booker prize finalist, Egyptian Novelist, political & Cultural commentator
"How many books have been published about Egypt's revolutionary Streetart? This is the only one I wanna read!" Ganzeer, Artist
“Walls of Freedom is the real voice of the Egyptian revolution graffiti scene. It is not the documentation of a solitary point of view on the phenomena but a crowd-sourced collection of testimonies by actual artists who were and are still present daily in the battlefield with nothing but their spray cans. The world finally has a chance to hear our stories and see us through our own lenses.” Bahia Shehab-Ted Fellow, Islamic Art Historian and Artist
We are Basma Hamdy & Don Karl, the curators of Walls of Freedom. For the past one and a half years we have been working on this project collaborating with 50 photographers, 30 artists and 20 authors. Since the beginning of the revolution, we have been involved in Egypt’s thriving urban art scene. We worked closely with a network of its leading artists on mural projects, events and exhibitions. We started to work on this book in order to professionally document the Egyptian Street Art explosion. The amazing artworks of the two and a half years pieced together, tell the whole story of the Egyptian revolution.
We have worked with many artists, capturing their art, their vision and their stories. We collaborated with Activists, Egyptologists and Historians to accurately tell the story of the changing role of expression in public space.
It has been an amazing journey...
We have put our heart and soul and a staggering amount of work into this book. In order to complete it – and truly do justice to the artists and the story of the revolution- we now need financial support. This will cover parts of the essential costs of production such as printing, and further editing & design.
The impact of getting this project funded is huge. We believe that what we have is something much more than a graffiti book. This book captures the art, thoughts, dreams and beauty of the revolution. We have collected everything from newspaper clippings to hand-drawn sketches. We have sourced photographs from amateur and professional photographers. The essays range from expert commentary to personal accounts. We honestly did not leave a stone unturned, we dug deep into context, meaning and analysis.
There are many giant publishers our there who may value commercial content over depth, isn't that what sells after all? NO! Lets prove them wrong. Lets make this book epic! Because if we do we are changing the way publishing works, we are prioritizing content, we are proving that people want something beautiful AND meaningful! Everyone who agreed to work with us on this project believed in it, and we know you will believe in it too! Some photographers have risked their lives to get some of the shots that will be published in this book. Artists have been arrested and harassed and continued to paint walls through tear gas and battles. These people deserve to have their voices heard.
Egyptians have been fighting for freedom and social justice, and they continue to do so, this book tells their story but its really everyone's story. Anyone who values freedom will relate to this book and the stories in it and will be inspired.
