New Cairo, Do You Love Me?

New Cairo, Do You Love Me? is a photographic project about the experience of living in New Cairo City. Growing up in this city, we were always struck by how commercial, lifeless and anti-human it felt to us. The city was established 25 years ago, promising luxury, safety and a refuge from Cairo congestion, but it ended up treating its residents as economic prospects rather than human beings and faltering on all its promises. We attempt to document this gap between promise and reality through this body of work.

The entire collection was shot on 35mm black and white film to revisit analog techniques in an overwhelmingly digital environment, signifying our rejection of the shallow modernity that New Cairo tries to impose on its residents. It also includes many awkwardly composed photographs. This is due to the fact that a large part of the shooting process took place through car windows to mimic the experience of the average resident.

We hope this visual collection can be a window into what it feels like to live in New Cairo, wondering whether the city loves you like it says it does.

Judi Yassin is an aspiring photographer who has been living in New Cairo for the past 12 years. Not a single photograph in her portfolio, which spans six years of work, is set on the streets of New Cairo. This is due to the simple fact that she finds the city unbelievably unappealing to look at. This project is the first time she has deliberately pointed her camera at the city in which she lives.

Tia Khalil is an aspiring photographer who has been living in New Cairo since she was three years old. This is her debut photographic project, choosing to focus on a rather bleak subject rather than something shiny and pretty. She dreads every moment she has to drive past an upcoming "luxury" compound, and this project is her way of conveying that feeling.