Cairo: A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect

One day, while photographing in a very old neighborhood that never sees tourists in their small winding streets, an older man stopped me and in a confused state asked me why I was taking photos.I was overwhelmed with awe and excitement by the scene I was photographing and motioned to it, stating 'Just look at it, it's beautiful'.He looked, looked back at me and replied 'beautiful, it's an old mess' and walked on.
 The ancient Egyptian proverb 'A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect' seemed quite fitting for the photographs I was aiming to take of Cairo, a fascinating sprawling metropolis of over 20 million people.A place steeped in history, and yet, most visitors never venture past the pyramids and the main museum before moving on to the other historic cities of Egypt.I set out with the goal to explore where most don’t and capture the beauty that is often overlooked once you live in a place too long and become used to your surroundings.  I have visited numerous times since 2018, with most of the work done in 2020 and 2021, exploring deeper each visit. In this series, I aim to take the viewer past the postcard shots of the pyramids and sphinx, and deep into this diverse and historically rich city.To show a glimpse of the complexity of Cairo and the lives of the people through equally complex and candid moments of daily life that often raise more questions than provide obvious answers.Moments that even if we come from a completely different background, we can relate to, smile at, empathize with and appreciate the shared beauty of life. Cairo is a massive city with not only an amazing ancient history, but an extremely complex and rich modern history.  From work done in 2020 and 2021 over multiple lengthy visits, this series of photos uses mirrored reflections along with complex compositions to show the equally complex lives of people who contribute to the writing of the modern story of Cairo.  Combining candid moments spanning all generations, historic architecture juxtaposed with modern advertisement, pristine mirrors ready for purchase as well as mere slivers of a mirror barely clinging to a crumbling wall, a sense of the historical timelessness is revealed among the thought provoking illusions that reflect on the past and provide a glimpse into the future of Cairo.