Artist talk and Sohour

On the occasion of Sanduq el-Dunia being exhibited at SOMA Art School & Gallery, the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Initiative hosted an artist talk on street photography. The talk was moderated by Photopia photography school, and featured 3 inspiring photographers, Sabry Khaled, Mahmoud Khaled, and Manar Gad, who enthusiastically shared and discussed their experiences and knowledge on street photography. The talk was followed by an intimate sohour, in the spirit of Ramadan, in which the public got to explore Sanduq el-Dunia’s touchscreen installation and learn more about the project.

The artist talk was the first out of two events shedding light on street photography and archival collections in Egypt. It was arranged by DEDI in collaboration with Soma Art School & Gallery and Photopia, and took place on Wednesday the 23rd of May.

Sanduq El-Dunia is a touchscreen installation that creates a dynamic relationship with Cairo’s heritage. It is a gateway to debate, discuss and reflect on the historical development of Cairo, offering the users a unique look at Cairo’s past and present by digitally navigating through the city. It was designed following the success of the award-winning project The Wall, pioneered by the Museum of Copenhagen with the Gibson Group, and it has been incubated by Danish Egyptian Dialogue Initiative since 2012. It is possible to visit Sanduq el-Dunia at SOMA Art School & Gallery, Zamalek, until the 1st of July 2019.

Manar Gad was born in Saudi Arabia in 1991, and graduated from the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University in 2012. She has been interested in photography the last four years, and has won local and international prizes such as The Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards (HIPA) and Saud Al-Thani Award.

Sabry Khaled is documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Cairo. He covers daily news stories, social issues, as well as long term in-depth self-driven documentary projects, which are usually described as emotional, intimate and humane.

Khaled studied dentistry and has a master’s degree in facial surgery before shifting his career towards journalism almost 10 years ago. His photography has been exhibited in Egypt, Germany, and Finland. He is currently teaching Photojournalism at the faculty of Mass Media and Communication at the British University in Egypt. Khaled is also a photography and photojournalism trainer, working independently and in cooperation with many NGOs.

Mahmoud Khaled was born in Egypt. He has worked as a photojournalist since 2010. He started his career in local Egyptian newspapers and worked as a freelance photographer for AFP in Cairo. He’s now living in Dubai working as a freelance photographer covering many events. He’s currently working in different fields of photography like Photojournalism, Sports and Documentary. He has furthermore published the book “Stations” at Photobook Egypt.