The Photographers' Gallery, behind busy Oxford St, is the venue for the Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize. This year’s shortlist is focused on social issues and current affairs and will certainly transport you away from the bustle of shopping nearby. Trevor Paglan‘s prize-winning entry centres on mass surveillance, but an installation by Laura El -Tantawy stands out for being perhaps the most immersive project of all four nominations this year.
This year’s line up has been criticised for focusing too heavily on content as opposed to composition, which might explain why the prize was awarded to Trevor Paglan for his eerily beautiful and polished pictures. El-Tantawy’s work is likely to follow a close runner-up, providing a poignant view into a critical period in Egypt’s recent history as well as revealing her quest for a sense of cultural identity.
Her photographs retrace the conflict during the Egyptian Revolution which took place in Tahrir Square in Cairo on 25 January 2011. These are published in a photo book ‘In the Shadow of the Pyramids’. She discussed her work and her life in conversation with Max Houghton at the Photographers' Gallery a few weeks ago.
The pictures are displayed on the gallery’s fifth floor, in a blacked out room. Here an array of images detailing events in and around Tahrir Square are projected onto 2 screens on loop. A series of small scale sepia toned family photographs from her childhood are positioned on the adjacent wall. There is a voice over track read by El-Tantawy which adds an extra dimension to the installation making this a more personal piece of storytelling.
El-Tantawy was born in the UK of Egyptian parents and was raised in Egypt. She left to find a better life overseas. She was a newspaper photographer in the US, working on human interest features for the Sarasota Herald Review (USA). El-Tantawy returned to Egypt in 2009 after the death of her grandmother to deal with her sense of loss and to reconnect with her homeland, staying there long enough to witness events that happened in Tahrir Square. The revolution became the overriding theme of her photo book, which was actually supposed to focus on her experience of returning to Egypt.
The Revolution lead to the ousting of long standing president (former general) Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981. Many Egyptians were subject to human rights abuses and denied the right to freedom of speech under his corrupt regime.
El-Tantawy has made a deliberate effort to avoid including any pictures of political figures (Mubarak, Morsi, and General Sisi) to avoid indicating any sort of political bias. Instead her photos are of ordinary citizens – of massive demonstrations that eventually erupted into scenes of civil disorder and violence, or of skyscapes against a background of fire and smoke. A picture entitled ‘Safeya’s tears’ has become emblematic of El-Tantawy’s project. It’s an image of a mother mourning the loss of her son.
She uses the editing process to push her viewpoint, selecting some scenes and subject matter over others. As such these photographs reveal her interpretation of events, and can be defined as visual storytelling as distinct from photojournalism.
She said that if there is ever another revolution she would like to participate in the demonstrations, instead of taking photographs in the slipstream. And, on the soundtrack, she repeats 'my name is Laura El-Tantawy, I’m Egpytian’. In fact, the photos clearly reveal her sentiments to be with the people, marching alongside them in spirit. The result is conflict photography with a twist. This includes some striking and poignant images, although, at times, it does seem a bit like documentary footage.
Many of the photographs are taken at nightime and steeped in night colour and bright night lights. These pictures capture a sense of momentum, rising tensions and danger over that critical eighteen day period in January. El-Tantawy said that she didn’t focus on form and, as such, her images have a unique dream-like quality about them.
Recent developments in Egypt’s political climate have perhaps overshadowed the impact of her work. The military are back in power three years after President Mubarak was deposed. El-Tantawy’s pictures were criticised (by a member of the audience) for being idealistic and representing ‘a dream of a revolution’. El-Tantawy maintains the revolution is symbolic of the power of the collective to effect change, towards a real democracy.
She believes that things are slowly improving in Egypt under the leadership of General Sisi. She also mentioned that Egyptians have a habit of reflecting on their history, on the Pyramids and Pharaohs, instead of appreciating the present.
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Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize at The Photographers' Gallery ends 3 July 2016