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*Mahmoud
When we first met, a year after the revolution, I was about to abandon my work on this subject.
We started by photographing a father who I had met at Tahrir Square, walking around in circles with a photo of his son attached to his chest. It was a poignant meeting, because this man had not only lost his son, but as the youth’s body was never found, he was not seen either as the father of a martyr.
When we left, you and me, shaken by this experience, I asked you to help me to find parents who would be prepared to tell their story.
Over the space of four months, we met twenty families. At every meeting, you always had to have a few words with the parents, over a sugary tea which you invariably accompanied with a cigarette. You often wept during those meetings. I would take the photos only after you had finished your long discussions.
I took my photos without you and in silence.
One night, after two months full of such meetings, you sent me a texto saying « I am at death’s door ». I answered you to say that if it was too difficult, I would stop the project.
Two weeks went by and you decided to continue. I agreed, provided that you shield yourself from all the distress. I said “try not to cry too much”.
After having done the last interview, it became obvious : we had finished our work. We had wanted to gather all the parents together in a book and an exhibition. That was certainly our way to pay tribute to them and maybe to ease their suffering, their sadness, their anger.
We decided to continue the work by photographing the enthousiasm for life that we saw amongst the young Egyptians in Cairo after the revolution, but you died while swimming in the Red Sea on a summer’s day in 2012.
I have never met anyone like you, an elegant being, unique in your strength and your fragility. When we were together, you were Egyptian, I was French, we belonged to the world.
Denis Dailleux
* Mahmoud Farag, an Egyptian artist and video producer, worked with Denis Dailleux on this project interviewing the families of victims in Cairo. These interviews, transcribed in Arab, were translated and edited by Abdellah Taïa. Sadly, Mahmoud died unexpectedly in Egypt in Summer 2012 without having been able to complete this work, a task that Abdellah Taïa was happy to assume.
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