city of the dead

On the way to the airport from my mother's flat, one passes by vast expanses of tombs and mausoleums in a "neighborhood" of Cairo known as the City of the Dead. It is an eerie sight to see acres and acres of single-story, sometimes roofless structures sprawling across the land, arranged like a city. Some families of the deceased have actually moved into the tombs, or have caretakers to oversee the family restig place. I have been intrigued by this arrangement since I discovered it on my last trip, and thought it would make a good painting.