“At first, I made the video El hob wal melh / Love and salt on the basis of two simple observations: the television has often a pivotal role in an Arabic living room and the living room itself is the most important room in the house as this is the room where you receive guests and present yourself. Therefore this room is meticulously decorated with particular attention paid to its details. The room is thus comparable to a stage set. In this work, I tried to bring both the virtual (an Egyptian historic-political soap opera) and physical space on the same sphere thanks to a combination of the sound and the image. I played with this existing ambiguous relation between fiction and documentary. This work was completed only a couple of weeks before the start of the Egyptian uprising in January 2011... A scene from an Egyptian soap opera plays on the screen; Karama warns Amira of the ongoing confiscation of the royal family’s wealth including that of their close relation. Amira is part of this circle. The scene takes place in a fastidiously decorated living room, that looks singularly similar to the real living room, revealed by a panoramic. The sound coming from the television glides into this real room. As the first part of my project is more on the presentation of an internal point of view, I then decided to photograph the facades of buildings under construction or those that were in ruins in Cairo, as well as the “new palaces” surrounding them for my Al fassad/ The corruption edition. The aim of this was to confront these buidings to the stage sets of the “Media City Production”, a big film studio that produces numerous films and television series in Egypt. Once again, this work was not limited to documentary work as I added pieces of printed textile transformed into patterns, boxes of Kleenex made up like sculptures or plastic mouldings to the architectural shots. In Arabic, “Al Fassad“ also means “Corruption“.“
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Laurence Bonvin
Take risks, experiment, and try out new approaches or techniques in relation to a current or past project, or their future graduation project. Encourage them to take a project or idea further by experimenting with methodology, technique, and production methods, rather than relying on familiar processes, solutions, know-how, or tried-and-true formulas.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Julien Bourdeille
Événement Lumineux Through an in-depth exploration of light as a narrative and sensory medium, first-year students created a short film on the theme “Luminous Event.” This project allows them to learn how to manage a complete audiovisual project while mastering the tools of filming, framing, and camera movement.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
“What is clearly conceived can be clearly expressed, and the words to say it come easily.” Nicholas Boileau, *L’art poétique*. As students embark on their final year of study at ECAL, with their interests and methods taking shape, this final project offers an opportunity to challenge their own rules, established practices and influences, to refuse to settle for the status quo and to take risks.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Nicolas Poillot
By conceptualizing and producing visual content as part of an editorial series, students will explore the concept of applied photography in a practical, creative, and professional manner, working closely with Art Director Nicolas Poillot.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anoush Abrar
DRIVE For this week’s theme, “Drive,” first-year photography students were asked to create a portrait shot on medium-format film. Inspired by the sensation of a first driving experience, travel, empowerment, or discovery, the week aimed to explore the relationship between one or more people and a vehicle.