Following the people of Cairo as they Trash their world.

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Introduction

Garbage is something we all deal with, may it be at home, the office, or in the case of Egypt, out in the streets. I find our behavior towards garbage quite hypocritical: garbage is nothing more than our left behind. Why do we create it and why do we complain about it even more?

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Points of Interest:

• Inevitable• Colorful• Attractive• Expressive• One can magine a story behind it• Plenty of it, may as well use it• The art of over consumption

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To try and get people to stop complaining and convince them to see garbage through an artistic view without encouraging them to contribute more.

Aim:

Methodology:

• Online Reading/Research• Learn about garbage systems in Cairo• Visit Garbage City• First Hand Interaction• Documentation

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Results:

• Those who did not complain, encouraged me to take more photos. Their belief: I was doing a research study to help solve the countries’ vast garbage problem.

• Others insisted I was nuts, and could not accept that garbage is anything other than a problem. They were too hard-headed to be open-minded

• Teens from the ages of 14 to 25 (those who were in groups of 2 or more) mocked and suggested that I take their picture because “they are prettier.”

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Results:

• ONE man, a mechanic, was interested in learning how I plan to portray garbage and change its role to something of value.

• The documentation process was very much like performing for a live public audience. People could not believe what they were seeing and did not hide their feelings. I experienced stage freight for the first 5 minutes then became accustomed to the waves.

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Obstacles:

• Being Egyptian makes photographing people or anything worth value, very complicated compared to being a foreigner.

• Trying to explaining why I was photographing garbage.

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Design Application

Logo

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Logo: Calligraphy

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Logo: One Letter ICON

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Logo: Recycle

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Logo: Blocks

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Garbage Garbage Garbage

Logo: Final Implement

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Format bind A4 A5

A3

A2

A1

• A1 Size• Folded 4 times for final A5 pages• Make most use of paper• Colorful• Attractive• We have plenty of it, may as well use it.

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layout

site 1

site 2

site 3

site 4

Side BSide A

cover page

text 1

text 2

text 3

text 4

image

article

article

article

article

back page

phrase

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Font

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Old Rubber Stamp

Old Rubber Stampilluminate

[ank]*DCC Sharp Distress Black

Unisketch Light Limited

Unisketch Limited

Metabebas

Blackout

Dirty Play

Adobe Garamond ProFranklin Gothic Book

Geneva

LaPresseGill Sans

Bell Gothic Std

kingthings Printing Kit

Garbage Boxes

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Garbage Boxes

Editorial

Issue 1: darb el-ahmar

Title Cover

Al darbEl Ahmar

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January/February 2011Following the people of Cairo as they trash their world.

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The Egyptian population is composed of engineers, taxi drivers, and garbage.

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Inside Pages: 1-2

What is Al-Darb El-Ahmar?

AL DARB EL AHMAR

Thirty generations have passed and a large maze of homes, workshops, mosques, schools, and

market places that can only be counted by thousands, have till recently remained hidden in the heart of Cairo today. Centuries ago, the area of Al-Darb El-Ahmar was located just outside the Southern walls of Fatimid Dynasty walls and acted as cemetery grounds for its residents. The wall was constructed around 970 of brick, and had two gates: North gate of Bab El-Futuh, and the South gate of Bab Zuweila.

In the eleventh century, a period of drought and

famine led the inhabitants inside the wall to expand outward, around Cairo. The city walls were adjusted and rebuilt between the years of 1087 and 1092 when the expansion occurred in order to include the newly developed urban areas.

Today Bab Zuweila is the last remaining Southern gate of the walls of Fatimid Cairo. It used to separate Al-Darb El-Ahmar, excluding it from Fatimid Cairo. However, in 1160, Fatimid vizier Al-Salih Tala’i, built Al-Hussein Mosque outside of the Bab Zuweila gate in fear of the Frankish desecration of the shrine of the prophet’s grandson, Al-Hussein, in Ascalon. This action suggested that Al-Darb El-Ahmar was no longer an stranger in the outskirts zone, but a part of central Cairo.

The Fatimid Dynasty ran across the Middle East and into parts of Europe. It occupied parts of: Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Italy, Lebanon, Sudan, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Jordan, and Syria. True urban development did not materialize however, until the Fatimid Dynasty (Shi’a) was completely

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overthrown by the rise of the Ayyubids who were lead by their Sunni leader, Sultan Salah El-Din, in 1171. Salah El-Din constructed a citadel south of the

Fatimid wall which would act from then on as the sultan’s residence (in 1206 his nephew Al-Kamil was the only one who used it as a real seat of power). This build of the Citadel stripped the Fatimid settlement of any royal status it had left. The transfer of power from within the walls of the Fatimid Dynasty to stretch the borders and go south, gave Al-Darb El-

which it was removed to make way for new urban development; human life. Surprisingly, the people preferred dealing with the dead (and moved them) rather than trying to remove garbage for their human life. In fact, the dumping grounds remained a permanent feature of the eastern edge of the city, which discouraged eastward expansion, and in turn, encouraged a bad habit of more and more dumping.

This continued on for centuries, piling mounds of debris to points where it resembled natural formations that dwarfed, & eventually buried the over-populated city alive. In 1984, a project was initiated by the Afghan Agha Khan Trust for Culture when Agha Khan IV (who was a descendant of Fatimid Imam-Caliphs) donated thirty million USD to build a build a park, restore the 12th century Ayyubid wall, and help improve several qualities and support for the people there. Imam-Caliphs is set in history as the man who founded the city of Cairo in the year 969.

Ahmar a real rise. The construction of the Citadel is the closest shape of Al-Darb El-Ahmar as we know it today.

After the establishment of the Citadel, consecutive sultans expanded and modified it with little additions like mosques, museums, and forts. About seven centuries later, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali is also built inside the Citadel.

A second equally important urban development occurred: the walls (of what used to be the Fatimid Cairo) were extended to include parts of the eastern edge of Al-Darb Al-Ahmar. This new region was known as ‘Qahira Al-Mahrusa’ (Cairo the Protected). It ran from the original eastern wall to the Citadel. In this area there were lands for animal fodder, city garbage dumps, & a century later, cemeteries.

As the years continued to pass, and Cairo (that outside the wall) continued to expand, the location of the cemeteries followed a constant trend of

In 2005, Al-Azhar park was introduced to Cairenes & until this day, also attracts people from around the world. The land that was once solid, morbid trash, has been transformed a green park with artificial ponds, trees, a magnificent view of the Salah El-Din Citadel, the Mokattam mountain, and other parts of the city. Also, the eastern wall was buried in garbage, has been refurbished, and restored to stand for the historic context it holds so proudly.

http://uk.ask.com/wiki/Citadel_of_Cairo

The eastern wall today between Al-Darb El-Ahmar and Al-Azhar Park.

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BOX 4

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Box 3

Box 2

Box 1

Box 4

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Buried in a small courtyard between homes and small-yet far developed skilled workshops, is a pile of garbage that people have accustomed their lives around. The main centerpiece of this collection, is a stripped-down, metal car frame that lacks any sign of its ‘good old days’. Locals claim they have no idea how it got there to begin with saying that they woke up one day, and found it there.

They tried reaching out to the government for help in getting rid of it, but they were constantly promised help in the near future. With it being so large, there was no way to just pick it up and hide it around a corner somewhere especially since it has rooted into the ground with rocks and soil holding it down. They need bigger help. Help that only the government could, but would not give. Ever since, no one has even tried to report the complication again, for pride reasons. Why would anyone ask for help from someone who will not give it? Years have passed and the people have accustomed their lives to fit around what is left of this expired automobile.

Recently, the Egyptian government has started to collect income taxes to help support the country-or so that is what is they claim. You cannot blame the people for expecting more of the regime like: better infrastructure (such as paved roads, sidewalks, etc.), public security, health services, and most importantly, general services (such as keeping the streets clean, water treatment, street lights, and trash removal).

Unfortunately, that is not the case shown Ratib Street. On this street there are shops, residential buildings, a Mosque, and the back side of a fairly large hospital. There are no dumpsters (which are usually supplied by the government. Instead, there are flies, cats, paper, plastic, and metal all over the street. Locals here are aware of their missing rights and expressed their anger with the government.

A humble man from the area said that the best places to look for rich garbage dumps in Al-Darb El-Ahmar are: Mosques and schools. These two locations are frequent points of gather that attract people of all ages, standards, manners, and morals, from all over the neighborhood. Most people do not realize what they are doing when they litter. The act of unwrapping a candy wrapper and dropping as you walk by, has become so casual and normal for Egyptian citizen. Stopping to point it out is just completely absurd. This collection of garbage was found in a narrow street next

to the Ahmad Maher Hospital, and in front of Al-Darb El-Ahmar Experimental School for Girls. This street was very random in the collection of people it attracted. I was surprised to

Unwanted, deserted, ditched, forsaken, and degraded. All the helpless terms an empty bag of chips experiences after it held what was so dear inside for you to consume without ever taking a step back to realize how convenient it was for you. Like a double-crossing friend, you trick the bag into thinking it is wanted and loved. But you betray its love, and take the only thing it has to offer, and leave it behind like a helpless cripple. These hobo cripples are what give a special site attention and flavor. Maybe one should not be so cruel next time.

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Bare & Left Behind

Piles of Stolen Money

Hygiene

Neglected

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BOX 2

BOX 3

BOX 4

Inside Pages: 7-14

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With each garbage box is a short story.

Inside Poster

This is the only thing we really want to get rid of.”“

Why would anyone other than a garbage man care about this stuff?”

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cairogarbage.blogspot.com0 6225583 8110824

P7 Bare & Left Behind

P14 Neglected

Inside This Issue

“It’s very inspiring to see our younger generations strive to face the problems we didn’t.”

Omar Farrag, Shop Owner, 55Garbage

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Back Cover

Side B: Picture PosterSide A: Cover, Back, Article, Boxes, & Short Stories

Issue 2: Mokattam

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Extra applications

BLOG

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