Even the Finest of Warriors

Yara Sallam (written in Arabic and translated into English by Zainab Magdy)

This research and book project deals with issues that have long been ignored as ‘personal issues.’ The project is concerned with psychological health, general exhaustion, financial security, as well as growing old as neglected intersections, despite how important they are in the context of documenting the struggle of women in the public space. This project attempts to offer a space where private worries can be expressed, and to normalize the idea that ‘exhaustion’ is one of the outcomes of interacting with the public space. Extending across three geographical stops, this project is divided into three phases; the first of which is concerned with Egypt and Tunisia. The research questions how feminist activists manage different aspects of their private lives and concurrently deal with the difficulties of being in the public space.