In episode 030 of Exposures, Mohamed Mahdy and Tasneem Alsultan discuss the relationship between documentary photography, community participation, and social responsibility. Drawing on Moon Dust, his project in Wadi El Qamar, Alexandria, Mahdy explains how living with residents shaped his documentation of conditions near a cement factory. He describes the practical and ethical challenges of the work, including risks to participants, restrictions on publishing sensitive documents, and the need to establish trust over time. The discussion also addresses the project’s role in generating material support for residents through exhibitions, donations, and the provision of medication and respiratory equipment.

Mahdy also discusses an ongoing project with the fishing community in Al-Max, Alexandria which extends this approach by incorporating residents’ written accounts as a vital element of the work. Their participation informs both the content and presentation of a project concerned with displacement and collective memory. The conversation situates these methods within the financial and institutional constraints facing locally based photographers, particularly the difficulty of sustaining extended projects while meeting personal obligations. It also considers how image selection and publication formats affect the representation of communities whose experiences exceed the scope of a brief photographic series.

About Mohamed Mahdy

Mohamed Mahdy is a visual storyteller and educator based in Alexandria, Egypt. He holds a degree in Arts and Design from Pharos University in Alexandria (PUA) and completed two diplomas at the Danish School for Media and Journalism (DMJX) in Aarhus, Denmark, supported by a scholarship from the Ecca Family Foundation. He is a 2021 Photography & Social Justice Fellow with the Magnum Foundation, and has participated in workshops and seminars with National Geographic, AFAC, PCF, and Mawred, as well as a residency at ESA — L’École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence.

In 2018, Mahdy was named by the New York Times Lens Blog as one of twelve emerging photographers to watch. In 2022, The Guardian selected him as one of five emerging talents in photojournalism, and he received the Canon Student Development Program award that same year.

His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Altonaer Museum in Hamburg, Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Geopolis in Belgium, Photoville in New York, and Sharjah Art Foundation. He has held three solo exhibitions in Egypt.

About Tasneem Alsultan

Tasneem Alsultan is a visual storyteller, investigative photographer and global mentor whose work focuses on social issues in the Arab Gulf region and challenges stereotypical perceptions of the Middle East.She is a regular contributor to National Geographic, National Geographic Travel and the New York Times.

Tasneem became thefirst Arab female Global Ambassador for Canon in 2018, a Catchlight fellow in 2019, was voted the Princess Noura University Award for Excellence’ in the Arts Category and received honorable mention for the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism. In 2020, she cofounded Ruwa Space, a platform to support visual creatives and offer education and consultation across the Middle East & North Africa. She’s a member of Rawiya women’s Middle Eastern photography collective.

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