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Exhibition Opening: Lingerings
The Photographic Gallery - P059 Abdul Latif Jameel Hall
AUC Avenue, P.O. Box 74, New Cairo, 11835, Egypt
Details
Over ten years, Ashraf followed his protagonist through childhood and youth—growing up with grandparents, facing health challenges, family separation, first steps into independence and work, and the loss of a parent. Train stations appear again and again in the images that carry him—literally and metaphorically—from one stage of life to the next.
Rather than documenting events directly, these atmospheric photographs capture what remains: the fragments of feeling that linger after each blow, each change and new life stage. The poetic, black-and-white images reflect a journey through struggle and endurance, as if seen through the fog of exhaustion and a subjective camera lens.
Lingerings is both a portrait of one life and a meditation on time itself—on growth, loss, resilience, and the weight of moving forward. It is also the photographer’s story, witnessing another’s struggles while tracing echoes in his own.
Ahmed Ashraf (b. 1995, Egypt) is a photographer whose practice explores the fragile, complex layers of reality and the quiet transformations of daily life. Originally trained in law, he turned to photography out of an inner compulsion to respond to what moves and provokes him, seeking to translate lived experience into visual form. His ongoing projects, including Lingerings (2015–), Nystagmus (2016–), and earlier series such as Bleeding of Time (2014–15) and Railroads (2012), reflect his sustained interest in memory, time, and the intersections of personal and collective histories.
Ashraf’s work has been exhibited internationally, with presentations at Cairo Photo Week (2025), Egypt Press Photo (2014, 2015, 2025), Freedom House in Washington (2014), and the Sharjah Arab Photos Contest (2013). His photographs have been published in Jadaliyya, Dodho Magazine, and Bird in Flight, and featured widely in international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, The Washington Post, The Telegraph, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Associated Press.