Taken by Mohamed AbdelGawad
Mohamed AbdelGawad made Egypt proud winning first place in UNESCO’s photo contest under the title “The Photo and Story” in 2015 as part of the international #United4Heritage campaign.
A couple of days ago, UNESCO celebrated the Egyptian winner at El-Manestirly Palace overlooking the El-Roda Nile Corniche. AbdelGawad’s photo shows an elder woman dancing in al-Moulid, a traditional celebration in the remembrance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, as the men behind her play their diverse kinds of percussion instruments.
“A woman dances at Fatimah al-Nabawiya’s moulid in Al-Batiniya, Cairo, to the song of one of the local bands. Women frequently dance and sing during moulids. Moulid celebrations are one of the places in which traditions with a long legacy that dates back to Pharaonic times are practiced, such as receiving the blessings of awliya, henna and lighting candles. They are also an important place for Egyptians, from urban and rural areas, of different sects and ages, to gather, dance, celebrate and listen to chants and prayers.” AbdelGawad described.
The competition started in August 2015, AbdelGawad almost forgot about taking part until it got selected to enter as a finalist in April 2016, among 10 other competitors from different countries, that included Canada, Pakistan, and India. This month, he was selected for first place. The winning photo was originally part of the photo story, “Ancient Moulids Face Modern Pressures,” published in Mada Masr’s Panorama.
AbdelGawad won a Canon 700D camera. But the photographer believes that “the win is the outreach the photo achieves, not the prize itself.”
WE SAID THIS: 3azama 3ala 3azama ya AbdelGawaaad!