“She’s like a child to me,” ‘Am Farag says laughingly as I ask him what his cow means to him. In Fayoum, almost every house owns some kind of cattle. When I asked the locals about their cows, they all mentioned how important it is for them. They regard it as their source of income.
Ever since the tourism in Egypt has been negatively affected and decreased, people in Fayoum have relied greatly on agriculture and livestock. If one Googles the city of Fayoum, all that would come up is scenery of landscapes, mountains and lakes. There is nothing showing what Fayoum really looks like, aside of the touristic places.
In my photo essay, I try to show the life of the average Fayoumi farmer through their livestock. My photos are a series of cows in different villages in Fayoum. It shows where they eat, rest and basically live. Though there are not any humans in the photos, it shows what life the average Fayoumi leads.
Cows have been important to Egyptians ever since ancient Egypt and the pharaohs. They put them out to pasture on land that couldn't be farmed on, either because it was too far from the Nile to irrigate or in the Nile delta, which was too wet to farm on. Egyptians used them for food, milk, leather, and sacrifice. “Ancient Egyptian cattle came to be considered so important that many Egyptian gods were considered to have the form of cattle, notable deities being Hathor, Ptah, Menthu, and Atum-Ra.”
What is interesting is the earliest evidence of cows owned by ancient Egyptians were found in Fayoum, dating back to the 8th millennium BC. Upon doing this research, I figured why not go to the original land of the cows and have pictures of them taken that show that after almost 2000 years, the same species are seen as essential by the same people who inhabit the same land.
I went on a road trip to Fayoum, stopping at houses of local Fayoumis and asking them if they owned any cows, and when they said they did, I asked if I could take a picture of it. Almost all of them were very eager to show me their most valued possession and called out their names as I took its picture (yes they have names for their cows, just like we have for our dogs). I was welcomed in to the homes of the locals, invited in for tea and had a little conversation about tourism that lead to talking about their agriculture and livestock.
It was very obvious that Fayoumis treasured their livestock. It was also a sign of wealth there. The more livestock one owns, the richer one is, so they were very keen on showing them off.
I had so much fun walking in endless fields of grass (which we don’t get to see in crowded Cairo) and following cows as they graze on the grass. The locals were welcoming and friendly, and I had a great time discovering the ‘other side’ of Fayoum, that so little people get to experience.
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