You might remember a post on the blog from a couple of weeks ago about Irish women on the walls. Here’s another group of women using art to reclaim space, this time in Egypt and the Middle East.  

“There’s no doubt that the whole project leads to the same thing. The main target is freedom and freedom of women.”

Women on Walls is a collective of artists who run graffiti and street art workshops for women in Egpyt and across the Middle East.

The workshops provide the women with the opportunity and support to create these beautiful works of art in public spaces, something they would not be able to do on their own.

The women are both painting the walls and ‘on’ them – many of the murals feature images of women, watching over the public space. They are eye-catching and you can’t help but be drawn to them. That’s deliberate – the main aim is to bring attention to women and women’s issues.

The art they are making is not only stunning, but also meaningful, with a strong social and political purpose – they are claiming their right to public space, starting conversations, and feeling empowered as artists who have a voice in the community.

Here you can listen to a couple of the women talking about the messages behind their work:

By guest blogger Alinta

Photo of Laila Ajjawi by Nicholas Weissman, published in Cosmopolitan