Selected as one of the ten showcases from the Annual submission entry 'Women', Rebecca Soliman explores what it is to be a member from the territory of Bedouin, Egypt; focussing on what it means to be a Bedouin woman in a land full of crime and violence.
Rebecca Soliman. She is an artist. An anthropologist. An activist.
Rebecca Soliman came to photography not through an academic career choice. Instead it was her choice to travel and experience life around the world. The Americas. The Middle East. Asia. Europe. Environments that contain poverty, issues and danger.
She is a person who loves to document the undocumented. The unknown. To raise awareness. To stimulate discussions. To overcome barriers. To break down taboos. To acknowledge. People. Issues. Life . Reality.
In The Other Egypt Rebecca Soliman looks at Egypt. An ancient high culture. A stronghold for tourism. An embodiment of the 2011 Arab Revolution. But there is another Egypt. The Sinai. 61,100 km2 in area. A vast desert peninsula. An area beyond the writ of Cairo.
The territory of the Bedouin. Lately, a land full of horrible stories in the media. Terrifying images and news. About kidnapped tourists. Human trafficking. Drug dealing. Terrorist camps. And amongst it all – the Bedouin women and children.
Forgotten people in a country full of crime and violence?
Once, a land famous for its nature. Popular with tourists. And today? A land with a lost reputation? A land with a lost population? What about the Bedouin women?
Living in Sinai some time after the 2011 Arab Revolution Rebecca Soliman started a research project. Alone. A Woman wanting to know more about other women. In one of the most remote corners of the world. Women who are strong but also weak. Who suffer but also enjoy life. Black and white. Like Rebecca Soliman’s images.
More of Rebecca’s work can be seen here.
