Photographers Heba Khalifa and Mohamed Mahdy present their work and speak about their recent works that are being featured in the headline group exhibition of GPP Photo Week 2019, ‘The Shortest Distance Between Us: Stories from the Arab Documentary Photography Program’ presented by Gulf Photo Plus, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture and Alserkal Avenue. This talk is part of the Jameel’s ‘Conversations on Practice’ series of artist-led presentations.

Heba Khalifa (b. 1977) lives and works in Cairo, Egypt

Heba Khalifa is a multimedia artist, photojournalist and painter. After graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in set design, she studied at the High Institute of Art Critics. She uses photography as an essential part of her artistic projects, documenting and representing women and gender issues. Khalifa has exhibited her work in Egypt, Switzerland, Spain, Singapore and China.  She is a founding member of the “Shouf” collective.

Mohamed Mahdy (b. 1996) lives and works in Alexandria, Egypt

Mohamed Mahdy is a documentary photographer and filmmaker whose work concentrates on buried and unseen communities in Egypt, as well as cultural and social issues. Mahdy has been exhibited at the 25 Youth Salon and the Ministry of Culture, as well as in Maine and New Mexico. He has exhibited twice with the Ian Parry Scholarship in London and also at Photoville in New York. Mahdy was the youngest ever speaker at the Dubai Photo Forum in 2016, and in 2018 he was named by The New York Times Lens blog as one of 12 emerging photographers you should know.