Walk Next to the WallImages of Martyrs in the Egyptian Revolution

Martyrdom in the Arab World• What is a martyr?• Fluid meaning that changes

based on cultural and historical context

• Barriers between empowerment and victimization, people and state are broken down

Source: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mavaa3ZhmL1qchhhqo1_500.jpg

Igniting the Arab Spring

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/Khaled_Mohamed_Saeed.jpg

• “We may or may not be massacred. It does not matter. If you are meant to die, it’s going to happen wherever you are. The more they kill, the more we believe in our cause.” – Magdy Ashour

• Pan-Arab martyrs

Graffiti“art attack”

Source: https://themadproject.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc_0347.jpg

Graffiti in Society• Hardwired into society• “Victors of war have used it as

territorial markers and gangs to stake out their turf. Politicians use it to spread their ideology, while subversives use it to talk back to authorities without fear of reproach” – Somerville, 105

Source: http://www.egyptianwomen.info/uploads/1/3/6/8/13687386/6015574_orig.jpg

‘Head Space’• Asserting authority over space• Graffiti interrupts• The images and murals are

always changing which means the narrative continues to develop

• “I will know what has changed by reading the graffiti. . . . After all, the writing is on the wall.” – Rana Jabour, 12

Source: http://images.csmonitor.com/csmarchives/2011/05/0526-Egyptian-graffiti-artist-Ganzeer-arrested-02.jpg?alias=standard_900x600

Mohamed Mahmoud StreetWall of Martyrs on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.

Source: https://ccstrike.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/mohamed-mahmoud-street-martyrs.jpg

Martyrs in Egypt• January 25, 2011 – February 11,

2011 840 died 6,000+ injured

• Does not include deaths prior to January 25th

• Many who died were not activists

• Image:“A martyr’s mother – part of the mural at Mohamed Mahmoud Street by Ammar abu Bakr”

Source: https://ameliansmith.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/revolution-graffiti-street-art-of-the-new-egypt/

Khaled Said• “We are all Khaled Said.”• Killed June 7, 2010 in

Alexandria, age 28• Images of his passport

photograph juxtaposed with a photograph from his autopsy circulated the internet

• “He kind of looks like you, or if not like you then your brother. His mother looks like your mother.” – Khalil, 72

Source: Walls of Freedom page 89. "Portrait of Khaled Said painted on a piece of the Berlin Wall by Case (MaClaim Crew). Writing above: 'Khaled's rights are Egypt's rights' written by Zahraa Kassem; below: 'We are all Khaled Said', calligraphy by Mohamed Gaber painted by Case.”

Khaled Said, continued• Stencils

Cheap, easy to use, no skill required

Usable by all citizens• Images inside a police booth

The placement is likely possible due to the speed of producing the image

The placement of the image means that that the police who use the booth will see it and be reminded

Source: Walls of Freedom page 87. "'Cairo Security Directorate' / Stencils of Khaled Said's face appear inside a police booth, a man sits inside resting from the protests, the stickers on his shirt and above read: 'No to emergency law, no to military rule, no to banning protests, the movement of the free Egyptian’ / Tahrir Square / 11 September 2011”

Mina Daniel• Killed October 9, 2011 in

Maspero, age 20• “The Egyptian Che Guevara”• Maspero Massacre: peaceful

protest about the destruction of a church turns into a “bloodbath” when the authorities show up

• “. . . turning point in terms of the unconditional support that most Christians had expressed to the army since they replaced Mubarak.” – Bahgat, 60 Minutes

Source: Walls of Freedom page 158. "Martyr mina Daniel / Ammar Abo Bakr / Mohamed Mahmoud Street / February 2012".

Mina Daniel, Continued

Source: Walls of Freedom page 158. "Martyr Mina Daniel / Ammar Abo Bakr / Mohamed Mahmoud Street / February 2012".

Source: Walls of Freedom page 147. "Saint Michael the Archangel, with wings and a halo, holding a spear / Coptic manuscript from Upper Egypt / 987 AD. Year 703 of the Era of the Martyrs".

Conclusion• Gave faces to those who,

otherwise, may have remained faceless

• Martyrs are longer cautionary tales; they are social motivators

• War of physical and mental spaces

• Forfronts the suffering of Egypt’s people

• Walking next to the wall means something entirely different today Source: http://www.motherjones.com/files/imagecache/node-gallery-display/photoessays/

banksy.jpg

Selected References• Buckner, Elizabeth and Lina Khatib. “The Martyr’s Revolutions:

The Role of Martyrs in the Arab Spring.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 42.4: 368-384. Accessed March 15, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2014.918802.

• CBS News: 60 Minutes. Maspero: A Massacre of Christians in Egypt. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/maspero-a-massacre-of-christians-in-egypt/

• Flaskerud, Ingvild. “Redemptive Memories: Portraiture in the Cult of Commemoration.” Visual Anthropology 25 (2012): 22-46.

• Gribbon, Laura and Sarah Hawas. “Signs and Signifiers: Visual Translations of Revolt.” In Translating Egypt’s Revolution: The Language of Tahrir, edited by Samia Mehrez, 103 142. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2012.

• Gröndahl, Mia. Revolution Graffiti: Street Art of the New Egypt. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2012.

• Hamdy, Gasma, and Don Karl. Walls of Freedom: Street Art of the Egyptian Revolution. Berlin: From Here to Fame Publishing, 2014.

• Harold, Christine, and Kevin Michael DeLuca. "Behold the Corpse: Violent Images and the Case of Emmett Till." Rhetoric of Public Affairs 8, no. 2 (2005): 263-286. Accessed March 14, 2015. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rap/summary/v008/8.2harold.html.

• Khalil, Ashraf. Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2012.

• Lina Khatib. “The Visual Rush of the Arab Spring.” In Image Politics of the Middle East: The Role of the Visual in Political Struggle, 117-167. London: I. B. Tauris, 2013.

• MacLean, Kama. “The Portrait’s Journey: The Image, Social Communication, and Martyr Making in Colonial India.” The Journal of Asian Studies 70.4 (2011): 1051-1082.

• Marzolph, Ulrich. "The Martyr's Fading Body: Propaganda vs. Beautification in the Tehran Cityscape." In Visual Culture in the Modern Middle East: Rhetoric of the Image, edited by Christiane Gruber and Sune Haugbolle, 164-185. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.

• Parry, William. Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2011.

• Sanders IV, Lewis. “Reclaiming the City: Street Art of the Revolution.” In Translating Egypt’s Revolution: The Language of Tahrir, edited by Samia Mehrez, 143-182. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2012.

• Shirazi, Faegheh. “Death, the Great Equalizer: Memorializing Martyred (Shahid) Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Visual Anthropology 25 (2012): 98-119.

• Somerville, Kristine. “The Urban Canvas and Its Artists.” The Missouri Review 34. 3 (2011): 97-108.

• Tawil-Souri, Helga. “Egypt’s Uprising and the Shifting Spatialities of Politics.” Cinema Journal 52.1 (2012): 160-166.

• The Square. Directed by Jehane Noujaim. United States: Netflix, 2013. Streaming Video. http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70268449&trkid=13641907&tctx=0%2C0%2C371c5100-9ea1-4762-b11b-dac21b68add5-63435433.