Photoblog: The women shaping Amman

Women artists in Jordan feed the cultural life of the capital, Amman, founding independent arts spaces and creative initiatives.

They are storytellers and teachers, using a variety of media to change the face of the city.

They are photographers, actors, directors, architects and street artists.

They are pioneers. They are visionaries.

All photos by Alessio Mamo.

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On stage at the Balad Theatre in downtown Amman, Shreen Zmout is an actress and assistant director. She often works on theatre projects such as "The Queens of Syria" with women refugees in the camps and in Amman [Alessio Mamo]

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Photographer Linda Khoury is the founder of Darat al-Tasweer, the House of Photography, and the director of the Image Festival, the International Festival of Photography in Jordan. In this picture, she is shown in the first-class train wagon at the old Hijaz Railway Station in Amman [Alessio Mamo]

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Documentary photographer Nadia Bseiso is working on a long-term project named "Infertile Crescent", exploring the reality of what was once the cradle of civilisation. Her work has been lauded by World Press Photo winner and jurist Tanya Habjooqa, who is also Jordanian [Alessio Mamo]

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Rand Abdelnour is a painter, teacher - and works in film production as well. In her home, surrounded by her paintings, she tells the story of her most recent exhibition, in which she tackled the Jordanian Penal Code's article on rape [Alessio Mamo]

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The storyteller Sally Shallabiyye feminised her surname as well as the Arabic name of her profession, becoming hakawatiyye. In this photo, she is performing at the Citadel in Jabal al-Qal'a [Alessio Mamo]

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The film director Deema Dabis is also a yoga instructor and fire performer. Her short film Shake tells the (autobiographical) story of a Palestinian-American woman interrogated, humiliated and denied entry at the Israeli border. She is here performing in this photo at the capital's skate park [Alessio Mamo]

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Yara Hindawi, a graffiti artist from Amman, often draws ghosts in the city with her tag "Yaratun". These ghosts reveal different facial expressions and emotions, but hide the political meaning of her views, here at Rainbow Street, Jabal Amman [Alessio Mamo]

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The book at Melika Qutisheit's desk is made with seeds - it is possible to plant it after reading. Melika, here at the Blue House in Darat al-Fonoon in Amman, works independently as a creative independent graphic designer [Alessio Mamo]

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Dina Haddadin is an architect and visual artist, obsessed in her research by the transient and the unfinished, she stands here in her studio in Amman, next to one of her large-scale paintings [Alessio Mamo]