PhotoCairo
William Wells, Director
later, we find ourselves assessing the effects of PhotoCairo 2002, a self-styled
cultural experiment that materialized in largely organic fashion – a response
to evident interest within local artistic communities as to photography in all
of its breadth. In that year, visible gains have been registered in bringing
attention to the enormous potential of the photographic medium, its value as a
tool for self-expression and its relevance in the surrounds.
2003 has
been marked by an unprecedented number of photography shows around the city –
from major touring exhibitions to novel photographic and video works produced
by artists here at home. Three Egyptian artists were invited to take part in
the 50th Venice Biennale as independent selections, all of them incorporating
video as central components of their works. A large-scale exhibition in Berlin
showcasing contemporary Arab expression presented a predominance of photography
and video. Recent graduates of the art colleges have been taking initiative in
mounting individual exhibitions throughout the city, often without any
institutional backing, while a significant number of Egyptian artists working
with photography and video have been taking part in residencies and exchanges
abroad. And for the first time, a group of photographers represented Egypt at
the 5th Biennale of African Photography in Bamako, Mali.
While
Egypt has both informed and been informed by the evolution of the photographic
medium, little of the earliest body of visual documentation of the country was
born at the hands of an Egyptian Gaze as, to an extent, the country’s
experience has historically been shaped by the use of the camera as a
representational and fetishising tool of the Occident. Contemporary activity,
however, is the extension of a movement that began with the Revolution, as
Egyptians increasingly assumed ownership over their own representation in a
significant paradigm shift. Today, an unprecedented number of practitioners are
claiming their photographic agency, making use of the medium as a tool for
active participation, intervention and an alternative to hegemonic visual
constructions. Slowly, prevailing misconceptions and taboos surrounding
photography and image-making at large are wearing down, proving tired and
irrelevant.
The point
of departure for last year’s PhotoCairo event was the ubiquity of photographs
in the surrounds. This year, we insist on translating the rhetoric surrounding
the democratic nature of the camera into a reality by initiating a series of
workshops – for a range of persons from first-time users to working
photojournalists. In addition, we seek to generate a space in which information
is freely available, a space conducive to dialogue and finally, exchange.
Central to our goals is the initiation of a critical discourse surrounding
diverse issues stemming from photography, examining subjects ranging from
Egyptian visual culture(s) to the contested histories of the medium.
In the
end, we will rely on community feedback as to the event in all of its facets,
hoping to build upon the momentum born of PhotoCairo in its two first years in
fashioning a lasting regional initiative in the arts. PhotoCairo, after all, is
a work in progress.
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