Photographic series

In Cairo, 40 percent of the city is now composed of "ashwa'iyat" (literally "haphazard things"), commonly translated in this context as "informal housing." These illegally built slums expand relentlessly in and around Cairo like mushrooms after the rain, suffocating the fertile soil beneath them. This Red City, as some architects refer to it, consists of endless rows of almost identical brick and cement buildings, long stretches of often window less towers, random, informal constructions lacking in all public amenities. These slums are generally regarded as frightening spaces, dangerous and crime-ridden. Politicians debate whether to upgrade or eradicate them, without much of either happening so far. Watching Cairo expand and spread over the last decades has brought me to ask what lies in store for its people. It seems to me that these "ashwa'iyat" represent a false promise – the promise of a heavenly new way of life amidst green pastures, a vain hope for a better tomorrow.

Extract from Lara Baladi's statement in the booklet Hope produced for the exhibition Afropolis, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Kulturen der Welt, Cologne, Germany 5 November 2010 - 13 March 2011.