CairoZoom the Art Project?

Now CairoZoom is no stranger to social commentary. From a cheeky dig on Bassem Youssef’s El Bernameg to satirical sites waxing lyrical on the differences between “real life” and the life captured by Cairo’s first and foremost photography site, to the ‘CairoZoom Face’ unofficially entering Egypt’s urban dictionary, our sister site has seen it all. What we didn’t expect, however, is for CairoZoom to infiltrate the minds of the city’s young artists, inspiring the work of art pictured above.

This artistic depiction of Cairo’s nightlife scene, inspired by the images that we only see on CairoZoom, is part of two-part series by young emerging artist Hala El Sharouny which she presents at 25^th Youth Salon hosted by Ministry of Culture at the Palace of the Arts starting tonight, as she competes among scores of colleagues for the Artist Under 35 award. Speaking to us, El Sharouny explains that “CairoZoom shocked Egypt by showing daring images; a parallel universe where men and women look great, spend money and life is just one big party. But the shock it gave Egypt is positive.”

Her mixed media pieces are highly populated with women, much like CairoZoom, and this, explains El Sharouny, is one of the site’s biggest feats. “Women in our Eastern society face a duality every day – the woman she is, and the woman she presents herself to be. CairoZoom broke that taboo and shows women, like anywhere else in the world, being themselves and not hiding behind closed doors. The internet has proven that the Egyptian girl has another face, one we choose not to know.”

“Our society needs to see that other face and accept it,” continues El Sharouny as she gears up for her big show tonight. As for us? We’re like a proud little family. You done good, CairoZoom.