In 2019, Nour El Massry took a photo that would change his life: He snapped a photo of a large terrace in a historical building in the Garden City neighborhood of Cairo. Although the facades surrounding it were old and dusty, the tile on the balcony, home to a set of wicker chairs made comfier with worn kilim rugs, was spotless. He uploaded the image to Instagram.
The next day, he was surprised to find that the post had gone viral. People all over the world were resharing it across social media. "It evoked emotional reactions of comfort and tranquility, nostalgia and connection," he says.
