Rana El Nemr

El Nemr studied photojournalism, advertising, and arts at the American University, Cairo. She has exhibited internationally, including in Lebanon, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Finland, and the United States. == Selected works ==

Giza Threads (2012) Rana ElNemr's Giza Threads is a photographic project that examines the layered dynamics of Giza's urban landscape by exploring the interplay between dominant, powerful forces and smaller, fleeting disruptions. ElNemr refers to these elements as “currents” and “streams,” where currents represent the city's structured, forceful, and unyielding aspects, while streams are delicate, momentary interventions filled with vibrancy and warmth. Together, they define the rhythms of Giza's urban life. Through her lens, and with a nod to her background in photojournalism, ElNemr captures the tension between these forces, revealing how small-scale, often-overlooked details disrupt and enrich the rigid flow of the city's everyday life. Her images highlight moments such as unexpected light displays on unfinished buildings or the overgrown beauty of neglected urban gardens, showcasing the unplanned aesthetic that emerges from these interruptions. Elnemr's method involves walking through Giza, allowing herself to follow these “currents” and be stopped by the “streams,” Giza Threads was shown in Elnemr's second solo exhibition at the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, The Olympic Garden (2008–2009, 2009, 2012) Rana El Nemr's Olympic Garden is a site-specific project that investigates the transformed urban space behind Cairo's Egyptian Olympic Centre, where the Al-Ahram Coop Complex once stood before being destroyed in a mysterious fire in 2007. The project explores the survival, social dynamics, and intricacies of life in this space, situated between the upper-middle-class neighborhood of New Maadi and the informal Arab Al-Basateen area. Bordered by barricades covered in graffiti expressing the voices of the trapped residents, the site embodies a tension between renewal and marginalization. El Nemr's work combines photography, texts, and conversations to reflect on the meaning of living and experiencing the city. She describes her project as an exploration of “a specific location with significant geographic importance—a place where a mysterious fire erased life,” This project exists in three chapters. Olympic Garden #1 consists of three 3-channel, still-image loops made of sound and text, each one between seven to nine minutes in length. The varying lengths of each of the three slow loops allows the viewer to see different combinations of image, sound, and text. Olympic Garden #2 is a sculpture made of photographs printed on translucent paper that show drawings, writing, and other marks on a wall that separates the garden of the Egyptian Olympic Centre from the houses of the garden's users. Olympic Garden #3 is an assemblage of video and still photography from the same site. Olympic Garden #1 (2008–2009) and Olympic Garden #2 (2009) have been exhibited as part of several group exhibitions, and Olympic Garden #3 (2012) was featured in El Nemr's 2014 solo exhibition Assembled in Streams of Synonyms. Costline consists of 64 photographic prints paired with texts. Excerpts from the project were exhibited in PhotoCairo 3 This series was pivotal in cementing El Nemr's place in the art world and has been internationally recognized, including been awarded "Le Grand Prix" of the Photographic Biennale in Bamako, Mali in 2005 The Balcony Series (2002–ongoing) Rana El Nemr's Balcony Series is an ongoing exploration of Cairo's urban life, social structures, and individuality through the vibrant, painted balconies of informal housing areas. These balconies, often found in densely populated and poor neighborhoods, act as transitional spaces between private and public life, serving as an expression of agency amidst challenging environments. As El Nemr explains, “The balconies are the positive voices of these areas, expressing Egypt as bright and colourful in the midst of despair. This display, of what is essentially a private part of the home, to the rest of the world is a positive aspect of the Egyptian people.” Variations of this series have been shown in Algiers, Berlin,), among others. The images have also been published in 2020's Photobook Africa. In 2003, a selection of the photographs called Colors of the Grey from the series was awarded the bronze award from the Canon Digital ''Creators' Contest'' in Tokyo. == Exhibitions ==

Rana El Nemr has shown her work extensively both in Egypt and internationally and has exhibited her art with some of the world's most renowned cultural institutions, including Documenta • 2023 Engrams of a Lunar Calendar, Studio Takhshina, Cairo, Egypt • 2020 Rana El Nemr: A Fine Structure Constant, Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich, Germany • 2017 A Chapter of Synonyms, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon (Curator: Marie Muracciole) • 2014–2015 Assembled in Streams of Synonyms, Sharjah Art Gallery, The American University in Cairo, Egypt (Curator: Maha Maamoun) • 2012 Giza Threads, The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt • 2006 Coastline (Il Sahel), Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark • 2004 The Metro, The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt Group exhibitions (selection) • 2023 Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala, India (Artworks: The Firesticks Library, It became known now that King Marriout has a library) • 2022 Documenta Fifteen DXV, Kassel, Germany (as part of Another Roadmap Africa Cluster ARAC) (Artworks: The Firesticks Library, It became known now that King Marriout has a library, Making the Garden, The Humungous Treehouse, Touriste Pedestre) • 2022 The 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg, Germany (artwork: riparian) • 2020 Photobook Africa. Tracing Stories and Imagery Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, Germany • 2019 Our Land, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, New York, USA (curated by Anthony Hamboussi) (Artwork: The Khan) • 2019 She Who Tells A Story, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, USA (Artwork: The Metro) • 2018 ''Truth is black, write over it with a mirage's light, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan (Artwork: A Chapter of Synonyms'') • 2017–2018 In Rebellion. Female Narratives In The Arab World, IVAM Institut d'Art Modern, Valencia, Spain • 2016 Cairo NOW! A City Incomplete, Dubai Design Week, UAE (Curator: Mohamed Elshahed) (Artwork: Telekinesis from The Balcony Series) • 2016 She Who Tells A Story, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., USA (Artwork: Metro) • 2015 She Who Tells A Story, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (Artwork: The Metro) • 2013–2014 She Who Tells A Story, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA (Artwork: The Metro) • 2013 Cross-border: Contemporary Female Artists from the Arabian Mediterranean Region, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany • 2011 Afropolis. City, Media, Art, Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, Germany (Curators: Kerstin Pinther, Christian Hanussek, Larissa Förster) (Artworks: Olympic Garden #1, Olympic Garden #2) • 2010–2011 Afropolis. City, Media, Art, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne, Germany (Curators: Kerstin Pinther, Christian Hanussek, Larissa Förster) (Artworks: Olympic Garden #1, Olympic Garden #2) • 2010 As the Land Expands, Al Riwaq Art Space, Adliya, Bahrain (Curator: November Paynter with the APT) (Artworks: Balcony Series in Green) • 2010 Afropolis. City, Media, Art, Goethe-Institut Nairobi, Kenya (Curators: Kerstin Pinther, Christian Hanussek, Larissa Förster) (Artworks: Olympic Garden #1, Olympic Garden #2) • 2009 2nd Pan-African Cultural Festival, Algiers, Algeria (Artworks: The Balcony Series in Green) • 2008 Cairoscape: Images, Imagination and Imaginary of a Contemporary Mega City, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (Concept: Marina Sorbello, Curators: Marina Sorbello, Antje Weitzel) (Artworks: Telekinesis, Tableaux Vivants) • 2008 Figure/Ground: 4 Women and their Surroundings, The Third Line, Dubai (Artworks: Balcony Series in Green) • 2007 Fokus Ägypten–Focus on Egypt, Kunstverein Hildesheim, Germany (Artworks: Telekinesis, Balcony Series in Green) • 2007 Photoquai (First Edition), Photoquai, Paris, France (Artworks: Telekinesis, Balcony Series in Green) • 2007 LUMO International Photography Triennale, Edition 7, Jyväskylä, Finland (Artwork: Telekinesis) • 2005 PhotoCairo 3, Cairo, Egypt (Curators: Maha Maamoun, Aleya Hamza) (Artwork: Coastline (Il Sahel)) • 2005 Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine de Bamako, Bamako, Mali (Artwork: The Metro) • 2005 Home Works 3, Ashkal Alwan and Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon (Artwork: The Metro) • 2004 Women by Women–Acht Fotografinnen aus der Arabischen Welt, Fotografie Forum international FFi, Frankfurt, Germany (Curator: Michket Krifa) (Artwork: The Metro) • 2003 Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine de Bamako, Bamako, Mali (Curators: Josep 'Pep' Subirós, Simon Njami) (Artwork: The Metro) • 2003 Voies off Festival–L’Africe en Face, Arles, France (Artworks: Balcony Series, Colors of the Grey) • 2003 Canon Digital Creators' Contest Award-Winning Works, Tokyo, Japan (Artworks: Balcony Series, Colors of the Grey) • 2003 ''Arabic Women's Art of the 20th Century'', The Palace of the Arts, Cairo, Egypt • 2003 Nile Photographic Salon, Cairo, Egypt • 2003 Egypt Art Biennale, Cairo, Egypt • 2003 Youth Salon, The Palace of the Arts, Cairo, Egypt == Residencies ==

• 2019–2020 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Munich, Germany • 2019 Jan Van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, the Netherlands • 2010 Badgast, The Hague, the Netherlands • 2007 Art in General, New York, USA • 2005 ECAVE, Sierre, Switzerland == Awards ==

In 2003, Rana El Nemr was awarded the grand international prize of the Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine de Bamako in Mali for her series The Metro, work that also won her the Silver Award at the Nile Salon Photographic Exhibition in Egypt. That same year, El Nemr was also awarded the Bronze Award from the Canon Digital Creators Contest that was held in Tokyo. Other nominations include the Prix Pictet in Paris (2010), The Aimia | AGO Photography Prize in Ontario, Canada (2015), and the Bank Vontobel Contemporary Photography Prize in Switzerland (2018). == References ==