By Islam El Shazly
Last week I took creative liberties with the quote about nostalgia, the proper quote is more like this “nostalgia is a seductive liar“, and that is probably down to the fact that as time slips by and we get older, our memory becomes a bit skewed. we are predisposed to readily remember the good and selectively forget the bad. So driving past one’s old stomping grounds one remembers every tree they climbed, every nook they hid in while playing hide-and-seek, and where they played on for hours on their bicycle, while keeping at bay the memories of bad moments, or painful experiences, like a particularly bad spanking perhaps!
The above is a generalisation of course, no scientific studies as far as I know, and definitely just my point of view. And I am definitely not like that, although I tend to “forget” particularly embarrassing moments from my youth, until, of course, an older member of my family brings them up in front of my children.
Truth is we like to reminisce about the good old days, when it was safe and we could play with the other neighbours’ kids on the street and not worry about an insane driver who wants to take a short cut through a quiet residential street, when neighbours where like family and people cared for one another. And in strictly heritage speaking, a time when there were people who took up the mantle of being patrons of arts and architecture, and we could find beauty all around us. When the world was a better place.
Or was it?
Egypt: Woman, veiled, Cairo. Brooklyn Museum Archives. Lantern Slide Collection.
Egypt: Houses of Soudanese Soldiers, Assuan. Brooklyn Museum Archives. Lantern Slide Collection.
Egypt: Partly submerged palms above Nile dam, Upper Egypt. Brooklyn Museum Archives. Lantern Slide Collection.
Egypt: Hagar el-Silsileh. Brooklyn Museum Archives. Lantern Slide Collection.
Egypt: Street Scene, Cairo. Brooklyn Museum Archives. Lantern Slide Collection.
Egypt: Base of Pompey’s Pillar, Alexandria. Brooklyn Museum Archives. Lantern Slide Collection.
