Inji Efflatoun – artist, feminist and communist in mid-Twentieth-century Egypt, was jailed for her political activism.
An artist, communist, feminist and a champion of the poorest individuals in Egypt – that is the story of the painter and political activist, Inji Efflatoun.
She was born in 1924 into a standard Muslim household in Cairo’s French-speaking higher class and was sheltered from on a regular basis life. She began portray in her teenagers after which joined a gaggle of artists, intellectuals and communists with robust anticolonial views.
Her work captured the injustices of Nineteen Forties and 50s Egypt – excessive poverty and the continued British imperial navy presence within the Suez Canal zone. Efflatoun was jailed in President Gamal Nasser’s anticommunist crackdown – however most likely produced her finest work in jail, depicting feminine life behind bars, Palestinian fighters and the poorest Egyptian labourers.
She was launched in 1962 and continued to color till her dying in 1989. Efflatoun was an authentic Arab artist and a champion of the poor when nobody else appeared to care.