Egypt graffiti

One of a series of murals in Zamalek

One of the great visual after-effects of the January 25 Revolution has been the proliferation of graffiti on the streets of Cairo (and other Egyptian cities). It's not just the scrawls of "Down with Mubarak" that remain as reminders of that first surreal morning when we all woke up to a city whose reality had been shattered. Street art in in full bloom today, ranging from beautiful murals to stencils of martyrs to clever visual jokes and swipes at the military council.

Hussein and Hosni, sittin' on a tree... 

A stencil in Maadi

Street art of this kind is a new development here (to my knowledge). Ahmad Abdalla's semi-documentary film "Microphone" last year brought what was still a new, underground phenomenon some attention.

Now the latest issue of the literary magazine Akhbar Al Adab is dedicated to the phenomenon. As is this excellent Facebook group, where you can spend hours perusing snapshots of clever, moving, ephemeral works from around the country. 

Near Downtown AUC: Checkmate.