New Yorker Features Slide Show of Egyptians

"Pictures from a Revolution" in the August New Yorker magaazine features elegant photos and videos of activists.

The Tahrir Uprising produced art, music, and wit; and it was one of the most photographed (and photogenic) political revolutions in history.

One of the most elegant and aesthetically beautiful accounts of the revolution was not shot during the uprisings themselves, but a few months after Hosni Mubarak resigned and published in The New Yorker magazine. It’s entitled “Pictures from a Revolution.”

The photographs are by Platon and, while posed, they are lovingly lit and arranged to speak more than a thousand words about the characters of the activists they portray.

But for those of us who are more verbal than visual, the words are there too, in the form of short videos by Francisco Fagan of Human Rights Watch.  Like the photos, these are carefully edited with an eye to aesthetics. Each is less than two minutes in length, elegantly photographed, featuring pithy quotations and merging the interviews with historical footage

Here’s what you will see:

• Musician Ramy Essam talks about being tortured, and making a song of it.
• Sondos Shabayek, Sarrah Abdel Rahman and Tarek Shalaby talk about the uses of social media, as does Wael Ghoneim, creator of the influential We Are All Khaled Said web site.
• Union leaders Kamal Abbas and Kamal Abu Eita and human rights lawyer Khaled Ali Omar talk about the decision  Jan. 30th to announce the support of the labor organizations for the revolution.
• Feminist author Nawal al-Saadawy enthuses about the participation of women in the revolution.
• Coptic Youth Leader Sally Moore and Muslim Youth leader Mohammed Abbas speak about the dissolution of sectarian tensions as the two groups worked together toward a common goal.
• Hossam Bahgat, the Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights talks about being teargassed.