Decolonizing images: A new history of photographic cultures in Egypt

Decolonizing images focuses on Egypt’s local visual heritage and continues the urgent process of decolonizing the canon of photography. It presents a new account of the visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt by interpreting the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals in a complex vision of decolonial difference. The 25 January Revolution in 2011 placed Egypt at the centre of discussions about the radical transformations taking place in global photographic cultures. Yet Egypt and photography share a longer history that is rarely included in Western accounts of the medium. Decolonizing images presents a new account of the rich visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt, focusing on the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals. Moving from the initial encounters between local knowledge and Western-led modernity, the book explores how the image intersects with the politics of representation, censorship, activism and aesthetics. It overturns Eurocentric understandings of the photograph through a compelling account of this indigenous visual culture, providing a complex vision of decolonial difference in contemporary Egypt. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary visual materials, Decolonizing images reveals the diverse ways the medium has been used to influence political affairs and cultural life and to reimagine Egypt in its transformation from colony to sovereign nation. The 2011 revolution put Egypt at the centre of discussions around radical transformations in global photographic cultures. But Egypt and photography share a longer, richer history rarely included in western accounts of the medium. Decolonizing images focuses on the country’s local visual heritage, continuing the urgent process of decolonizing the canon of photography. It presents a new account of the visual cultures produced and exhibited in Egypt by interpreting the camera’s ability to conceal as much as it reveals. The book moves from the initial encounters between local knowledge and western-led modernity to explore how the image intersects with the politics of representation, censorship, activism and aesthetics. It overturns Eurocentric understandings of the photograph through a compelling narrative of contemporary Egypt’s indigenous visual culture.