The Eye Sees Not Above the Brow

The Eye Sees Not Above the Brow is a record of an overlooked community living on the rooftops of one of Cairo’s wealthiest residential districts. These families have migrated from smaller cities across the countryside in vain hopes for fair opportunities and better living conditions. Above the cityscape of the metropolitan capital, they were met with cramped living spaces with safety hazards and poor access to utility services.

With a large format camera, a portable darkroom, and a bag full of chemicals, we crafted together their photographic portraits. The resulting series of Collodion wet plates and large format prints acknowledges, on the one hand, their presence by bringing us face to face with them. While, on the other hand, the faded and scratched surfaces of the photographs reflect their marginalisation both spatially and economically. The title of this work refers to an Egyptian colloquial proverb that implies an acceptance of the social hierarchy discouraging in turn the desire to change one’s stature.