Walking Alexandria
During my 2020 residency in Cairo, I wanted to see more of Egypt beyond the city I had begun to know. Alexandria was one of those places that kept calling me. I took the train from Cairo, a journey of a little over an hour, watching the landscape change as I moved north towards the Mediterranean. As with my journey to Giza, the train was not simply a way of getting somewhere. It was part of the experience of moving through a country I was still learning to read.
When I arrived in Alexandria, I decided to walk. I began along the waterfront and made my way from one end of the beach towards the other, allowing the city to unfold gradually rather than trying to see it all at once. The Mediterranean stayed beside me as I walked, with the sea, the road, buildings and people constantly changing around me.
One of the places that immediately caught my attention was the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Its enormous circular form, rising towards the sky, felt both monumental and distinctly contemporary. I photographed it from different angles, interested not only in the building itself but in how it sat within the city and beside the sea.
Further along, bridges and sculptures became part of the visual landscape. I found myself photographing these smaller encounters alongside the city's better-known landmarks. Walking gave me the freedom to stop whenever something caught my eye.
A Visual Journey Through Alexandria
Then came the Citadel of Qaitbay. Standing beside its massive stone walls, I was reminded once again of the layers of history that exist within a city. Alexandria seemed to hold different periods of time alongside one another—the ancient city, the Mediterranean port, the modern waterfront, and the everyday life continuing around them.
I photographed the citadel, but I also photographed the spaces around it. The walls, the sea, people moving through the waterfront and the changing light all became part of the experience. What stayed with me most was not any single monument. It was the walk itself. I had arrived by train from Cairo, but once in Alexandria, I wanted to experience the city slowly, on foot. Moving along the beach allowed me to encounter the city in fragments: a building, a sculpture, a bridge, a person, the sea, then another building appearing ahead.
Photography became a way of paying attention to those moments. Alexandria reminded me that sometimes the best way to understand a city is not to move quickly between its landmarks, but to walk between them. To start somewhere, keep moving, and see what the city reveals along the way.
