Green Grass
My mother used to tell me: the grass is not greener on the other side; it is greener where you water it. It grows where it is cared for, where attention and love are given.
In Egypt, that care has long been carried by women quietly, persistently and especially in rural life, where they stand at the root of everything that grows.
This project looks at women whose labor sustains the land, yet remains unseen. Rural women are often reduced to their roles within the home, while their presence in the fields which is central to agriculture, to food, to survival is overlooked and undervalued. They are not only caretakers of households, but workers of the soil, moving between both worlds without recognition.
For many of them, agricultural labor is not a choice but a continuation of upbringing, of necessity, of inherited roles passed from mothers to daughters. Despite long hours, physical exhaustion, and minimal wages, they remain part of a cycle that feeds entire communities. Yet, this work exists in a space of vulnerability. These women are largely excluded from legal, health, and social protection. Unrecognized by labor laws, they are treated as invisible workers - easily underpaid, often unprotected, and exposed to different forms of exploitation.
Their days begin before the sun fully rises. They gather, waiting for transport that takes them to distant fields, where they harvest under the weight of heat and time. By sunset, they return - not to rest, but to continue another shift inside their homes: cleaning, cooking, caring. A continuous movement between labor and duty, carried with resilience that often goes unnoticed.
Without these women, there is no agriculture in Egypt. No harvest. No green.
This work is an attempt to shed light on their crucial role in the society. To recognize how much of Egypt’s agriculture exists because of them.
They are not just part of the land. They are what keeps it alive.
