An image from Cairo

This intriguing image is part of the work that Cassandra Nelson brought back from her recent MC assessment trip to Libya and Egypt. It was taken in Cairo while visiting a Coptic Christian community in El Makattam Hill.

The residents make a meager living sorting through garbage for recyclables. She’s captured a moment that’s an appealing combination of composition, background, and expression and almost appears staged. It isn’t. Cassandra rounded a corner and found these two as you see them.

One of Cassandra's talents as a photographer is the ability to disarm subjects and elicit open and honest reactions. This is a first-rate example. The centerpiece of the frame is the oddly mature looking baby perched like an adult in his full-sized chair. The wall with its saturated colors and partial script is a photograph all its own…particularly the upper right hand quadrant. It takes the eye from a rusty switch whose wire trails upward across the portrait of Jesus to that lethal looking jumble of ancient wiring in the junction box and on to who knows where inside the building.

Cassandra will be showing her work and talking about her experiences in Libya and Egypt at the Mercy Corps Portland Action Center, at 7pm, Wednesday, May 1st.