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Egypt

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They were millions, they had the will, they had the surfeit, they had the weight of the gagged years.

Nuria Tesón

The soul of the world is a collection of 80 photographic and literary portraits taken in Cairo during 3 intense years, before, during and after the Egyptian revolution of January 2011. The work was developed under the auspicious of the Cultural section of the Spanish Embassy in Cairo.

The aim of the work was to make a portrait of the Egyptian society where, through its inhabitants, we approached the everyday issues and worries of groups from different social classes, sex, age or professions. But it has turned into a reliable document of the evolution and transformation of the country during these years of turmoil.

The portraits

The stories

The Sparrow
Cairo | Nuria tesón
Some birds will never find themselves protected within golden cages. Nor do they need to be. Some will always fly free, covering  ...
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the guardian of the garden
cairo | nuria teson
The porter’s lodge of number three, Al-Hadiqqa Street is a bedlam of little girls with the terse Amm Rabia in charge.  ...
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Khaled Said’s mother
cairo | nuria tesón
The water’s silent. A murmur of blood beckoning blood echoes in the depths of the catacombs. The still liquid is diluted and seeps through,  ...
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The Revolutionary Cairene
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
Leaning against a fence in front of the Mogamma, the revolutionary takes a break from the battle. He doesn’t think his ...
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Mors, ego sum mortis. Vocor agnus sum Leo fortis
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
The handle of the knife was the sinewy and slender foot of a suckling, with two ...
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The candy-floss seller
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
Adding colour and flavour to life costs 25 piastres. That’s the value of dreams, of clouds, of the ethereal that turns ...
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The portraits

The stories

children who aren’t Mahmud
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
He’s got large eyes, a freckly nose and teeth that look as though someone put them in a bag and shook them up, before dropping them back into his mouth any old way  ...
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The fisherman
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
His life fits in a barge that floats on the banks of the Nile. At nightfall the nets are flung overboard and unfold hitting the surface with a thud, making waves...
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the barbers of Dahab
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
The window’s small and made of wood with chipped planks like the ones in an old painting framing a costumbrista print. The daylight falls on them and mixes with ...
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The Smoker of Cleopatras
cairo | nuria teson
He’s forgotten how long he’s been polishing moccasins, lacing shoelaces and burnishing leather sandals. He isn’t 30 yet but he knows it’ll be difficult for him to get ...
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The Man Who Inhabited a Child
Cairo | Nuria tesón
He has the gaze of a man and hands that don’t belong to him. He seems to have been born already an adult some forty or fifty years ago and lost a few ...
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The Potter
Cairo | Nuria Tesón
He breaks, mixes, dilutes, joins, kneads, flattens, caresses, penetrates, presses, turns, works, paints, engraves... He cooks. Clay in his hands is a being with a life ...
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The portraits

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