“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 Natacha Lesueur
Documentary, the power of make-believe Based on projects developed around a common theme, the students develop a personal, in-depth project around the theme of pretense. They build a project that plays with the limits of veracity in photography, using it as an artifice of deception.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Natacha Lesueur
Off-camera By exploring what lies outside the frame, students develop a sensitive and reflective approach to audiovisual creation. Throughout the semester, students are encouraged to reflect on the political and formal issues surrounding the moving image, as well as the relationship between the visible and the invisible.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Anoush Abrar
Deconstructed Portrait The goal of this workshop, led by photographer Anoush Abrar, is to explore the meaning of the contemporary portrait. Working with the concept of the “deconstructed portrait,” the students created an image in pairs. The Digital Medium Format workshop week serves as an introduction to both photography equipment and specialized software.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Charlotte Krieger
Unseen This course introduces students to the creation of a seven-image series built around the theme Unseen. They will learn to combine set design, characters, and lighting to produce strong, coherent staged images. Through a practical and technical approach, the course develops their ability to conceive and manage a complete photographic project, direct models, work with natural and artificial light, and collaborate under conditions similar to professional editorial or commercial shoots. Students will refine their photographic vision while preparing for the creative and technical demands of the industry.
BA PHOTOGRAPHY
with Rineke Dijkstra
What is good portrait? What technique do you choose? What kind of light do you use? Daylight or flash? What location or backdrop do you choose for? How do you choose your subject? How do you approach someone you don’t know? In this workshop, the students have explored what makes a good portrait and which tools you can use to create one.