EXHIBITIONS
Yasser Alwan Photography
RECOGNITION
2008 Arts Council of England, London
For the catalogue and touring photo exhibition entitled The Liberty of Appearing
2008 Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust, London
For the publication of the catalogue in conjunction with the UK photo exhibitions
2001 Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography, San Francisco
This award is now at the Fifty Crows Foundation
Jan ‘99–Jan ‘00 Royal Netherlands–Swiss Embassy Grants, Cairo, Egypt
To complete a documentary photography project on human rights
Exhibition held at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Jan 2000
1986–‘87 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
National independent study abroad grant to go to Egypt and Jordan
Photographic and written inquiry into traditional life in modern times.
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS
Group
May 7-23, ’13 Covering One’s Back, Gezira Arts Center, Cairo
Nov–Dec ’12 Hotel Viennoise, Cairo
Mar 2011 Egypt Rising, Cairo Documentary Film Festival, American University in Cairo
Presented Sura, a ten-minute video about the Egyptian Revolution
Nov 2009 Paris-Photo, Carrousel du Louvre
Participated in the Statement section of the exhibition
Nov ’08–Mar ’09 Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Beirut
In the Middle of the Middle, a group exhibition curated by Catherine David
May 2009 Maddox Arts, London
The Art of Survival, a group exhibition sponsored by the Helen Bamber Foundation
PUBLICATIONs/BOOKS
2012 “No Ideas but in Things”: A Documentary Art Short on Message, in Visual
Productions of Knowledge: Toward a Different Middle East, Cairo Papers in Social Science, The AUC Press
2008 The Liberty of Appearing, published by Peacock Imprint, London, 2009
A catalogue of my photography in conjunction with the traveling exhibition
2008 ‘Studio Bakr’ in Cinema Cairo: The Golden Years of Egypt Film, published by The AUC Press, (Oct 2008, ISBN 978-977-416-173-5)
2007 Imagining Egypt: The Photographs of Lehnert & Landrock, published by Lehnert & Landrock Orient Art Publishers, (Sep 2007, ISBN 977-243-021-5)
LECTURES/ARTICLEs
* Mirrors or Windows: How do we look at Photographs, presented at Faculty of Literature, Cairo University, March 28, 2013
* “The Awakening of a Radical Reality?” Reflections on PhotoCairo 5, jadaliyya.com, Feb 2013
* Imagining Tahrir, article and photos, jadaliyya.com, Nov 2012
* Blindness in Egypt in Hypatia, the magazine of the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, Cairo, March 2011
* slide presentation at Global Media Forum, Bonn, Germany, June 2011
Panel entitled The Media’s Capacities for Facilitating Economic Development in Egypt
* lecture on documentary photography at the Nineteenth Annual Symposium of AUC’s
Cairo Papers in Social Science, “Sights of Knowledge: Debates about Visual Production in the Middle East,” April 10, 2010
Group
May 7-23, ’13 Covering One’s Back, Gezira Arts Center, Cairo
Nov–Dec ’12 Hotel Viennoise, Cairo
Mar 2011 Egypt Rising, Cairo Documentary Film Festival, American University in Cairo
Presented Sura, a ten-minute video about the Egyptian Revolution
Nov 2009 Paris-Photo, Carrousel du Louvre
Participated in the Statement section of the exhibition
Nov ’08–Mar ’09 Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Beirut
In the Middle of the Middle, a group exhibition curated by Catherine David
May 2009 Maddox Arts, London
The Art of Survival, a group exhibition sponsored by the Helen Bamber Foundation
Apr–July ‘05 The World Affairs Council of Northern California, San Francisco, CA
Five photographers from the Middle East
May–July ‘01 Friends of Photography/Ansel Adams Center, San Francisco, CA
Group exhibition, 2001 winners of the Mother Jones International Fund for
Documentary Photography
Nov 1995 Foyer des Großen Saals, Burgerhaus, Frankfurt, Germany
Solo
Feb–Apr ‘12 19 N Washington Square, New York University, Manhattan Campus
Oct–Dec ‘11 New York University, Abu Dhabi Campus
Oct 2010 Visual Arts Center, Culture Village, Doha, Qatar
Oct–Nov ‘08 Chats Palace Arts Centre, London
Nov 2008 Foyles Gallery, London
Nov–Dec ‘08 Eldon Gallery, School of Art, Design & Media, University of Portsmouth
Dec 2003 The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo
Jan 2001 The Panopticon Gallery, University of Kent, Canterbury
Jan–Feb ’00 The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Cairo
Feb–Mar ‘96 Ewart Gallery, The American University in Cairo
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS
* Mirrors or Windows: How do we look at Photographs, presented at Faculty of Literature, Cairo
University, March 28, 2013
* “The Awakening of a Radical Reality?” Reflections on PhotoCairo 5, jadaliyya.com, Feb 2013
* Imagining Tahrir, article and photos, jadaliyya.com, Nov 2012
* Blindness in Egypt in Hypatia, the magazine of the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, Cairo, March 2011
* slide presentation at Global Media Forum, Bonn, Germany, June 2011
Panel entitled The Media’s Capacities for Facilitating Economic Development in Egypt
* lecture on documentary photography at the Nineteenth Annual Symposium of AUC’s
Cairo Papers in Social Science, “Sights of Knowledge: Debates about Visual Production in
the Middle East,” April 10, 2010
* lectures on photography at Cairo University (25 Oct ’09) and the Institute du Monde Arabe,
Paris (19 Nov ’09) in conjunction with Paris-Photo
* Blindness in Egypt The Blinding of Egypt: Long-Term Censorship and the Understanding of
Photographs, published in Hypatia (September 2009), the quarterly magazine of the
Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression
* Several lectures and slide presentations in association with The Liberty of Appearing exhibitions:
Photo Forum #7, Oct 9, ‘08
SOAS, Nov 13, ‘08
King’s College, Nov 17 and 20
University of Portsmouth, Nov 26, ‘08
* Maxime Du Camp in Egypt, Fullbright Commission in Egypt, Sep 22, ‘07
* Re-Mapping the Arab World: Photography and Orientalism, University of Exeter, April 18, ‘01
Presented at the Conference: Orientalism Reconsidered: Emerging Perspectives in
Contemporary Arab & Islamic Studies
* Documentary Photography in Egypt, Berry College, Mount Berry, Georgia, March 27, ‘00;
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, April 6, ‘00;
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, April 13, ‘00
* Photography and the Invention of Reality, The American University in Cairo, Feb 26, ‘96
* Women and Photography in Egypt, a lecture in conjunction with the Women and Memory
Study Group, The New Civic Forum, Cairo, Sep 28, ‘96
Articles in The Ahram Weekly, Cairo, Egypt:
* So Long As We Can Say..., 28 April-5 My, ‘94
* The Real Invisible, 23 February-1 March, ‘94
Articles in The Star, Amman, Jordan:
* The Art of Photography, March 4, ‘93
* The Illusion of Democracy, June 17, ‘93
Opinion Essays published in The Jordan Times, Amman, Jordan:
* The Mystique of the Occident, September 22, ‘92
* Double Standards and Finger-Pointing: Which Direction?, October 1, ‘92
* Catch-22... or a Fragmented Democracy, October 12, ‘92
* Photography and the Invention of Reality, November 5, ‘92
* Cars and Car Culture, November 10, ‘92
* Of Heroes and Hero-Worship, December 8, ‘92
* Oil and Vinegar, December 31, ‘92
* Welcome to Colonial Society, January 19, ‘92