Fatma Fahmy: Once There Was a Tram
CREDITS
Fatma Fahmy (b. 1991), an Egyptian documentary photographer, currently living in Cairo, has been selected as the first winner of the Daniele Tamagni Grant. The grant aims to encourage young photographers from the African continent to proceed a professional career in photography by providing a fully paid tuition for the Photojournalism and Documentography Course at the Market Photo Workshop School in Johannesburg, South Africa – including fully covered living expenses for one year, and curation of a new body of work to be presented at Festival Visa pour l’Image.
Fahmy deals with the themes of nostalgia and transformation by portraying the Egyptian community and its attempts to maintain and preserve their traditional and ancient roots. ‘Once there was a Tram’ is a dedication to Alexandria’s 19th-century tram network and Fahmy’s subjects reveal the experiences of their daily lives through facial expressions and body language – a longing for a better future or perhaps travelling in thoughts and memories back to a better past. The environment of the tram and shining streetlights metaphorically encapsulate both the rhythm of life and external pressures. As Fahmy states herself, “as people wonder about their fate and going to their destination, my question remains: How long will this box endure the outside world changes?”
According to Giordano Tamagni, chairman of the Jury, Fahmy’s project “is coherent to the spirit of the initiative and deeply connected to Daniele’s artistic heritage.” Daniele Tamagni (1975-2017) was a leading Italian documentary photographer. After his lost fight with an illness, the Daniele Tamagni Grant harnesses his broad knowledge of art, his passion for style and fashion, his evident inspirational capacity to become a reference to generations of like-minded individuals all over the globe.
For further information regarding the next edition of the Daniele Tamagni Grant, please visit danieletamagni.com.
