This New Photobook Shows Cairo's Strangeness in the Most Beautiful Way Possible

Sponsored by photography collective Photopia, the photo book series PhotoBook Egypt just launched its second round of books in Dubai. The series showcases the work of seven prominent Egyptian photographers, each of whom presents a book of photos in different fields, displaying Egypt's unique idiosyncrasies, as seen through their lens.

Five of the artists were featured in the first round of books, launched last December, while two new artists have joined in the series with their unique portrayals of the country's eloquent spaces, from forgotten rooms to train stations. Returning to this year’s launch were food-photography giant Yehia El Alaily, whose book Kitchen Memoirs displays Egyptian heritage through his monotonic photos of out-of-date kitchen utensils in Egypt.

“My collection is made up of kitchen equipment from the last 50 or 60 years, utensils used to make coffee, kitchen-ware, table-ware, 80 percent of which we don’t use today,” explains El Alaily. A prominent Egyptian street photographer and designer, Karim El Hayawan also launched his new book Forgotten Rooms, which features rooms in Downtown Cairo inhabited by Egyptian pensioners as part of a dying pension program that operates in Downtown.

The five other photographers presenting work are Heba Khalifa, who is presenting her Homemade collection, Mahmoud Khaled with his Stations collections, Hadeer Mahmoud, Mosa'ab Elshamy, and Mohamed Ali Eddin.

The next launch is scheduled for April, when they will be presenting the photographers’ work at Photopia's hub in Korba. By then, all seven books will be available for purchase in Egypt at Photopia and Alef Bookstores. For now, they are available in Dubai and London, while only the five initial books are available in Egypt. 

Check out a sneak peek at El Hayawan's Forgotten Rooms collection: