Fashion Photography used to Document Egyptian Girlhood
A renowned fashion photographer, Peter Lindbergh once said that fashion photographers were also new painters in society. He added that in other societies, these were it only painters but also activists, historians, storytellers and academicians in their way. These look at fashion art in a multifaceted manner hence exploring even the socio-political issues that include identity, feminism and even resistance.
Fashion photography in Egypt has been on the rise in recent years in resisting the existing dramatic political and social shifts that have negatively affected the social fabric that held the people together. From the revolution of 2011 that led to the rise and fall of the former president Morsi to the current state of things, the question of identity among the youth came to the limelight hence the young people have resorted to defining their own identity that is very independent of the existing political and social contexts.
Malak El Sawi is one of the young Egyptian fashion photographers that use this art to display how fashion photography can correctly blend with issues in the socio-political spheres and not just for beauty and commercial purposes. Today’s society has an obsession with the bodies and dressing of women. To address this, she looks at how this art can create identities or destruct them. After college, she launched her Instagram Page that would help propel her career as a fashion photographer.
El Sawi’s niche in this art is to bring subcultures that initially were forgotten back to the mainstream. She documents the lives of the young Egyptian women, putting special emphasis on Egyptian culture that defines young women while pushing more for the locally-focused fashion photography that has less of western influence.
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