Series - FotoSlovo 2026 - Category « Documentary / Reportage »

In collaboration with the journalist Vincenzo Mattei

January Syndrome explores the legacy of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution through intimate portraits and urban stills. It is a photographic and narrative project investigating the emotional and political experience of the generation that was both protagonist and victim of that historical moment. It documents the trauma and "erasure" of a generation frozen in time, suspended between revolutionary memory and disillusionment.

Started in 2025 and currently in progress, the project documents the surviving memory of those years through the visual testimonies of men and women who took part in the uprising and after their failure going through depression and psychological medical support. The subjects are photographed from behind in domestic spaces to protect their safety while evoking the trauma, isolation, and frustration that continue still to shape their lives.

Alongside the portraits, a series of photographs of places and objects (stills), bear witness to the erosion of revolutionary memory in public spaces. These elements amplify individual stories, becoming symbols of the fracture between past and present.

The title is inspired by a phrase from Egyptian social media: “January Syndrome” is the ironic label from the latter generation to the one frozen in the time of the revolution. The project seeks to offer a human and visual portrait of a generation that imagined a different Egypt—and today lives suspended between disillusionment, memory, and the hope of return.