Randa Shaath’s exhibition Al-Qāhirah 90 opens May 8 at Beit Babelouk on Sheikh Reyhan Street as part of the fourth Cairo Photo Week. This is the first time the Palestinian-Egyptian photographer presents a solo exhibition at the festival. Organized by Photopia under the slogan Finding the View, the event runs until May 18, held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Ministry of Culture, and the Tourism Promotion Authority.
Shaath’s exhibition includes 20 black-and-white photographs that capture Cairo during the 1990s. Her lens follows the city through its streets, markets, workers, and early stages of urban transformation. The exhibition doesn’t try to idealize the past—it pauses it.
No Nostalgia—Just Record
Shaath is clear about her intention. “The photos I selected for the exhibition don’t highlight nostalgia for the nineties,” she said. “Each era has its merits and demerits. I wanted to document the place where I lived, and how life looked then.” Her photographs focus on the people, professions, and daily scenes that defined Cairo before the city’s major construction boom after the millennium.
Some of the places in her images no longer exist: behind the El-Oyoun wall, Maspero, and the neighborhoods of sugar, lemon, and gypsy merchants. Others, like the excavation of the metro and the expansion of October Bridge, mark a moment before modern infrastructure reshaped the capital.
A Career Framed by Change
Shaath’s connection to the 1990s is personal and professional. She worked as a photojournalist for Agence France-Presse and Al-Ahram during that decade and later became the first photo editor-in-chief at Al-Shorouk newspaper. The period marked the height of her journalism career and her deep engagement with the shifting landscape of Cairo.
Her documentation goes beyond buildings. “People are the same,” she said. “Changes occur in places, clothing, professions, and everyday life details. This is what I was keen to capture.”
Photopia’s View on Visual History
Photopia founder Marwa Abu Leila sees Shaath’s participation as an important moment in this year’s festival. “Randa Shaath’s work offers a rare mix of artistic expression and human documentation. This exhibition will let audiences experience how she sees Cairo—and how she frames what others miss.”
Shaath has long blended personal identity with visual storytelling. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and her publications include My Homeland is but a Stone’s Throw Away (1989), documenting life in a Palestinian refugee camp, and Egypt, the Mother of the World (1990), a historical exploration of Cairo’s culture. In 2020, she released her autobiography Sand Mountain, reflecting on her life, photography, and layered identity.
Cairo Photo Week: Local Lens, Global Frame
Al-Qāhirah 90 is one of over 20 solo and group exhibitions presented during Cairo Photo Week, spread across 14 venues in Downtown Cairo. This year’s edition features photographers and institutions from around the world, including National Geographic, World Press Photo, Vogue, and Getty Images. The program also includes more than 100 talks, workshops, and live demos, in collaboration with cultural bodies from Europe and beyond.
Before the City Changed, Someone Was Watching
Al-Qāhirah 90 is not a walk through memory. It’s a visual record of what Cairo was before it became what it is now. Shaath isn’t asking viewers to miss the past. She’s asking them to remember it—clearly, carefully, and without filters.