The Egyptian Creative Community Came Alive at Cairo Photo Week
Organized by Photopia, the independent platform led by Marwa Abu Leila, Cairo Photo Week 2025 unfolded with an impressive breadth of programming: 25 exhibitions featuring the work of 120 artists, over 100 talks and panels, 16 workshops, 6 exhibition tours and photowalks, 53 portfolio reviews, and a rich lineup of networking events. In total, more than 600 hours of programming reached an audience of over 25,000 attendees—including 2,000 students and early-career creatives—making this edition a resounding affirmation of Egypt's vibrant and growing creative community.
What makes Cairo Photo Week unique is not just the scale, but its soul. Throughout its many venues—14 in total across two districts—one could feel a palpable sense of connection and momentum. From the bustling energy of the exhibition openings to the quiet intensity of portfolio reviews, the festival felt less like an event and more like a movement.
In the exhibitions, established names were shown alongside emerging voices, creating powerful juxtapositions that captured the multiplicity of the region's visual culture. Local photographers documented the nuances of daily life in Cairo with intimacy and urgency, while international artists added new dimensions to the conversation, enriching the global context without overshadowing the local.
As a guest, speaker, and portfolio reviewer, I had the privilege of engaging directly with many of the artists and attendees. The hunger for dialogue, mentorship, and community was evident at every turn—from packed panel discussions to spontaneous debates between generations of image-makers. Cairo Photo Week is more than a platform; it is a catalyst.
The Fashion Feed: Virality, Burnout & the New Visual Economy panel at the Cairo Design District (One-Ninety, New Cairo). From left to right: Abdallah Sabry, Daniel Rodríguez Gordillo, Bassam Allam, Ämr Ezzeldinn and Farida El Shafie.
PhotoVogue: The Power of Community. Daniel Rodríguez Gordillo in Downtown Cairo.
Egypt's creative scene is alive, and thriving. Thanks to the tireless work of Photopia and the many artists, educators, and institutions involved, Cairo Photo Week is fostering a space where ideas can take root and visions can evolve. It is not just reflecting the current state of photography in the region—it is actively shaping its future.
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Which Egyptian Goddess or God Are You, Based on Zodiac Sign
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The archetype, image, and strength of a specific Egyptian goddess might appear at a time of deep transformation. For many of us who identify as female, this is the case of Isis, as her archetype is strongly connected to Venus. But did you know that your birth chart holds the key to unlocking the guidance of other Egyptian gods and goddesses that are meant to guide you in this incarnation? Read your Sun sign to unlock success, your Moon for emotional support, and your rising sign for ritual guidance. READ: Your Pet Isn't Just Cute—4 Signs They're Your 'Familiar' Spiritual Protector Aries: Seth Being the sacred warrior in Egyptian mythology, Seth is the most primal representation of the fire element. Like the archetype of Aries, Seth's is often misunderstood, as its role of initiator can be taken as 'too quick or too intense.' 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Forbes
6 hours ago
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BMW Presents Raphaëlle Peria And Fanny Robin's Poetic Photographic Journey At Les Rencontres D'Arles
Raphaëlle Peria. Gathering the Whispers, 2025. Courtesy of the artist / BMW ART MAKERS. Courtesy of the artist / BMW ART MAKERS. In a powerful convergence of memory, photography, and environmental reflection, French artist Raphaëlle Peria and curator Fanny Robin unveil their collaborative exhibition Traversée du fragment manquant ("Crossing the Missing Fragment") at the 56th edition of Les Rencontres d'Arles, one of the world's most prestigious photography festivals. Staged at the atmospheric Cloître Saint-Trophime–a 12th-century Romanesque cloister and UNESCO World Heritage Site–this exhibition is the winning project of the BMW ART MAKERS 2025 programme and marks the 15th year of BMW France's cultural partnership with the festival. The result is an elegy in images: a poetic dialogue between past and present, childhood and adulthood, memory and loss–rendered through a deeply personal story with universal environmental implications. Fanny Robin and Raphaëlle Peria, BMW ART MAKERS. Photograph by David Coulon (2025). DavidCoulon (2025)/ BMW Art Makers A Fragment Reconstructed The exhibition began with a photograph–several, in fact. Raphaëlle Peria, only three years old at the time, embarked on a journey with her father and sisters along the Canal du Midi aboard their family barge. That memory was hazy, half-lost–until a family photo album resurfaced decades later. "Page after page, the story of this crossing unfolded," she says. That rediscovery became the catalyst for a multi-layered project combining old family photographs, newly shot images of the same canal, and Peria's own signature techniques of photographic transformation. But there is a darker undertone. The plane trees that line the historic canal, once captured in the glow of childhood and sunlight, are now dying—devastated by an invasive fungal disease known as canker stain . 'There are parts of the canal now with no trees at all,' Peria says. 'In ten years, they'll be gone.' Lever les voiles sur le passé Raphaëlle Peria - BMW ART MAKERS Raphaëlle Peria - BMW ART MAKERS Photography As Archaeology Curated by Fanny Robin, the exhibition is an ambitious feat considering the rapid timeline: from selection in December 2024 to full production and installation by May 2025. Robin, Artistic Director of Lyon's Bullukian Foundation, has worked with Peria on multiple projects over nearly a decade, but this exhibition marks a turning point. 'This is our fifth exhibition together,' she says, 'but it's much more experimental than anything we've done before.' The body of work displayed in Traversée du fragment manquant is structured around a dialogue—between Peria's own photographs, captured during a return journey to the canal this spring, and her father's archival images from the 1970s. 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BMW ART MAKERS exhibition "Traversée du fragment manquant" at Les Rencontres d'Arles 2025 by artist Raphaëlle Peria and curator Fanny Robin. © Raphaëlle Peria/BMW ART MAKERS (07/2025) Memory, Melancholy, and Urgency Beyond the technical and curatorial achievements, what truly defines Traversée du fragment manquant is its emotional resonance. The title itself hints at absence—the missing fragment that Peria seeks to reconstruct not only through image, but through sensation and memory. The photographs bear poetic titles— Le Reflet de ce qu'il reste ( The Reflection of What Remains ), Gathering the Whispers —underscoring the elegiac tone. These are not just images of a canal; they are meditations on how landscapes carry human histories, how childhood moments become mythologized, and how fragile our ties to nature really are. 'I think it's important to show the evolution of an ecosystem,' Peria says. 'The trees are like ghosts now.' The urgency of climate change and environmental degradation is never stated explicitly—but it haunts every image. In revisiting the route of her childhood voyage, Peria finds the trees she once remembered reduced to stumps, scars, and absence. In bringing them back through her art, she creates a powerful tribute to what is already lost and what may soon vanish. Les fantômes du canal, Raphaëlle Peria - BMW ART MAKERS (2025) Raphaëlle Peria - BMW ART MAKERS (2025) The Power of Partnership BMW ART MAKERS, the program that brought this collaboration to life, is unique in that it funds a curator-artist duo, rather than a single artist. It's a model that fosters deep artistic dialogue, something both Peria and Robin have clearly embraced. 'The BMW program gave us the chance to take risks,' Robin says. 'It was a very short timeline, but that urgency led to something much more alive and immediate.' BMW's 15-year partnership with Les Rencontres d'Arles represents a long-standing commitment to cultural support, but Traversée du fragment manquant feels particularly timely. As industries reckon with their role in environmental crises, supporting work that speaks directly to issues of memory and ecology feels less like branding and more like responsibility. Raphaëlle Peria, BMW ART MAKERS (2025). Photograph by Lee Sharrock © Lee Sharrock A Family's Silent Witness As for Peria's father–whose photographs sparked the entire project–he had not yet seen the exhibition at the time of our interview. 'He found out about it in the newspaper,' Peria laughs. 'He'll come at the end of August.' One imagines that the experience will be profound. His casual snapshots have now become a visual cornerstone of an exhibition that combines intimate family history with urgent environmental commentary. What began as a child's summer adventure is now transformed into a work of art seen by thousands—and possibly, a record of a natural world that may not survive another generation. Le reflet de ce qu'il reste. Raphaëlle Peria, BMW ART MAKERS (2025) Raphaëlle Peria, BMW ART MAKERS Final Reflections In an age of digital overload and synthetic imagery, Raphaëlle Peria and Fanny Robin offer something far more tactile, poetic, and haunting. Traversée du fragment manquant isn't just about looking–it's about remembering, feeling, and mourning. It reminds us that photography, at its best, doesn't just capture the world; it interrogates our place within it. As Peria so poignantly puts it: 'Trees are living beings that carry our memory; they are the guardians of our secrets.' Through this remarkable collaboration, those secrets whisper again–etched in light, scratched into history, and carried forward, even as the waters rise and the trees fall. Traversée du fragment manquant is on view at Cloître Saint-Trophime, Arles, until October 5, 2025. The exhibition will also travel to Paris Photo in November at the Grand Palais Éphémère. Cloître Saint-Trophime, Marseille. Photograph by Lee Sharrock © Lee Sharrock
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Richard Johnson: Famed photographer Harry Benson still shooting at 96
Richard Johnson: Famed photographer Harry Benson still shooting at 96 NEW YORK — Photographer Harry Benson is a living legend. At 96 — having shot Winston Churchill, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali and every U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower — he's still shooting. Benson was standing right next to RFK when he was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968. 'I still remember Bobby Kennedy's last words moments before he was shot,' recalled Benson. ''See you in Chicago,' he said to me. It was the Democratic National Convention where his official nomination for the presidency would never happen.' 'Out of nowhere, a gun comes out. … Next thing you know, Bobby's on his back looking up at me. It's an image in my head I can never fully let go of.' Benson was there with The Beatles to capture their famous pillow fight. 'At first, John [Lennon] didn't want to do it,' Benson recalls. 'But that didn't last very long. In a way, he was really the instigator of the whole thing.' 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