In the farm scene Ezba from 1953 three women emerge in shadows of the foreground and contrast with the bright illumination of objects and the leaves and foliage of the background. As an activist, Inji was a leading figure in the early women’s liberation movements in Egypt and a staunch supporter of labor rights. Her paintings reflect her concern for the peasants, her response to political and social issues of her time.

Born to a Francophone family of wealthy landowners, Efflatoun emerged as an artist in 1942 at the age of 18 with a series of works exhibited in the Art et Liberté Surrealist exhibition in Cairo. She studied art with leading Egyptian Surrealist Kamal El-Telmissany and was was among the most prominent women artists of her generation in the mid-20th century; that included Marguerite Nakhla, Effat Naghi, and Tahia Halim.