ED2016 4/5 Reviews ED2016 Art & Events Reviews

My Neighbourhood (Christian Stejskal)

By Jane Berg | Published on Sunday 28 August 2016

Christian Stejskal has achieved something indescribably beautiful in ‘My Neighbourhood’; a fusion of visual art, music and stories from his “double life” as a violinist in the Cairo orchestra while living with the Zabaleen, the city’s informal rubbish collectors. But the stories are not about him, instead we hear about the brutal culling of the Girgis’s pigs in the swine flu epidemic, the death of Mussa’s brother during the 2011 Arab Spring, Moros’ struggle to complete high school, the radiant Reda, and others. These are illustrated by Stejskal’s remarkable documentary photographs of life in the garbage city and interspersed by violin pieces of intense pathos. The result is a unique and significant tribute to this community.

Just Festival at St John’s Church, 26 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 [Jane Berg]