American photojournalist Sarah Elliott was surprised by how many women were involved in the Arab Spring. Inspired by what she saw, she began documenting women’s roles in the uprisings as the governments fell in Egypt and Libya last year.

Thousands of Egyptian protesters spilled into the streets of Cairo one year ago today, and photographer Mahmoud Khaled Mahmoud found himself in the middle of what would become the Arab Spring. Months after the demonstrations died down, he returned to document what had changed.