Three Influential Photographers; Three Architectural Perspectives
This panel takes its audience on a journey that depicts the body of work of Karim El Hayawan, Nelly El Sharkawy and Nour El Refai and how differently each expresses their take on architecture – be it on a commercial or fine arts level. Join us on a well-rounded panel, moderated by Marwa Abou Leila, cofounder of Photopia, with three of the most influential photographers in Egypt today while they share many insights about the craft and how architecture is being visualized through their own eyes and mind.
Panelists: Karim El Hayawan is a Cairo-based visual artist and interior architect. After founding Design Point Studio in Cairo in 2002, El Hayawan began to develop his photography under the mentorship of Alaa Abdel Naby of Reuters. He is continuously inspired by his hometown Cairo, relentlessly seeking visual vocabulary that defines the complexities of the ever-expanding urban metropolis. His work has been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions throughout the region: the “Contemporary Arab Photography Biennale'' at the Institut Du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Grid Cape Town Biennale in South Africa, the off-Biennale in Cairo, titled “Something Else”, Abu Dhabi Art at Hafez Gallery, Cite Internationale Des Arts Paris, Art D’Egypte and Darb1718 in Cairo as well as the Egyptian pavilion at Dak’art Biennale. El Hayawan is also the founder of Cairo Saturday Walks, an initiative that invites participants to explore different neighborhoods in Egypt through street photography and that was featured and highlighted on CNN’s “Connect the World” and “Destination Egypt.”
Nelly El Sharkawy is an architect and ballerina who started practicing photography in 2011. From conceptual self-portraits to black and white street photography, El Sharkawy is currently working on architectural photography. Her work has been shown widely in group exhibitions in Egypt at venues such as Gypsum Gallery, OVR, Art d’Egypte, Zamalek Art Gallery, Soma Art Gallery, the Arts Mart Gallery, Darb1718, Shnit Film Festival, Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (DCAF), The Palace of Arts, among others. She was nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award in 2017, and her work was featured in the top ten architectural photographs in the Sharjah Arab Photo Award in 2013. Additionally, she won two awards for “Best Innovative Photograph” in the Cairo Camera Club as well as the CIB prize in the 25th Youth Salon. El Sharkawy is currently the Managing Partner and Creative Director of Cairopolitan, a design boutique and art gallery located in Cairo, Egypt.
Nour El Refai is a photographer based in Cairo, Egypt. El Refai obtained a degree in architecture at Cairo University and has been working as an architectural photographer in the MENA region since 2005. He also covered documentary stories and worked on assignments in Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, India, and Turkey. His work has been published in the Financial Times, the Huffington Post, Architectural Digest, Interior Design, ArchDaily, and many more. El Refai taught architectural photography at various universities and continues to conduct workshops in art centers.
Moderator: Marwa Abou Leila is the cofounder and managing partner of Photopia, an independent photography school in Cairo. Abou Leila graduated from Ain Shams University in 1999 with a degree in commerce and has been a photography enthusiast ever since. After quitting her banking career in 2011, she and her friend, Karim El Khadem, cofounded Photopia in May 2012 to offer both emerging and established photographers an ongoing platform to learn, meet and interact with one another. In late 2016, Abou Leila launched Photobook Egypt – a powerful series of photography books curated and published by Photopia Cairo and narrated by remarkable Egyptian and regional photographers (whether emerging or established). Abou Leila is also the founder and curator of Cairo Photo Week – a diverse photo festival in the heart of downtown Cairo that brings together the most influential image makers in Egypt and the region.
