My work is always inspired by my immediate environment: typically, Downtown Cairo, popular, urban culture, and street culture. I grew up in a small village in the district of Sharqiya, 50 kilometers out of Cairo, where family and community are top priorities in society.

However, the bulk of the young people from my village can only find work in the nearby city of Benha or the factories of Cairo. When I myself moved to Cairo in search of work, the impact was enormous; physically, in terms of the chaos of the city, and also in terms of my sense of community and human relationships. I discovered how in the context of this enormous urban center, working class individuals appear almost to be invisible within the society/context that they live and work.

I was thus inspired to immerse myself in Cairo’s working neighborhoods, form close relationships with their inhabitants and channel those experiences and friendships through my artistic practice. Through my work, I attempt to make visible that which so often becomes an overlooked or taken-for-granted element of the urban fabric.