Yasser Alwan

Yasser Alwan photographed in and around Cairo, recording encounters with people in the streets, at the racetrack, in cafes, and in places of work-tanneries, quarries, bookshops, potteries, the crowded pavements where all kinds of trade are conducted in the city. There are portraits of labourers and workers who live in conditions of unimaginable poverty and political dispossession which are remarkable for their refusal of the cliches of social documentary and photojournalism. And there are portraits of friends and family which form a collective portrait of the middle class seen in the relaxed informalities of daily life. This collection of Alwan's photographs offers an unprecedented and unique picture of Egyptian society and introduces a body of work that is a major achievement in contemporary photography from the Arab world.

YASSER ALWAN (1964-2022) was an independent photographer based in Cairo. Born in Nigeria to Iraqi parents, he studied and worked in Lebanon, Iraq, the United States, Sudan and Jordan before moving to Egypt in 1993. He taught photography at various institutions, including the German University in Cairo. His photographs have been exhibited internationally.