Contact Currently based in Cairo, Egypt Available for assignments info@rehabeldalil.com +201003515486
Biography Born (1989) and currently based in Cairo, Egypt, Rehab Eldalil is an award winning documentary photographer, visual storyteller and educator. Her work focuses on the broad theme of identity explored through participatory creative practices.
She received her photography BA from Helwan University in Cairo in 2011 shortly after participating in the Jan25 Egyptian revolution for which she co-authored a photobook The Road To Tahrir documenting the revolution’s early weeks. In addition to developing personal long term projects, she works with NGOs and publications such as HuffPost, National Geographic, Liberation, UNICEF and Drosos Foundation, documenting human interest stories in North Africa and Middle East regions. In 2013, Rehab began her research on collaborative lens based approaches and representation in visual storytelling.
Rehab has received her photography MA with distinction award from Falmouth University, UK 2020. And she received a one year certificate in documentary photography from the International Center of Photography, New York, USA 2021.
Her long-term project The Longing Of The Stranger Whose Path Has Been Broken was shortlisted for PHmuseum Women Grant 2021, 6 Mois Photojournalism award 2021, Philip Jones awards 2021, Marilyn Stafford award 2021 and Catchlight fellowship 2020. She was awarded AFAC & Magnum Foundation’s Arab Documentary Photography Program grant 2020, National Geographic Society’s Emergency grant for Journalists 2020 and Creative Activism award 2021. Rehab was awarded the FotoEvidence W Award 2022 to publish her project in a book format, she won the World Press Photo Regional Award 2022 (Open Format/Africa) and received the Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus award 2022. Most recently, she received the Women Photograph and Getty Images Inclusion grant to work on her new project Nesting Birds.
Rehab's work has been exhibited in many exhibitions around the world including Egypt, USA, UK, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Canada and Greece. Her book is available for sale worldwide.
Artist Statement My work focuses on the broad theme of identity explored through participatory creative practices. I explore how to challenge traditional documentary frameworks by developing methods to involve subjects to become participants in the creative process. I experiment with how to embrace the fluidity of collaborative mediums against the limitations of photography in developing layered and comprehensive visual narratives that challenge the exoticism of communities, including my own as an African and Arabic woman.
Having lived in the US during 9/11 and experienced rising xenophobia then returning back to Egypt where years later I participated in the Jan25 Egyptian revolution, identity plays a major role in my practice. I use my personal experiences as creative inspiration. My work is both personal and universal. I consider my work as alternative historical documents woven by the community’s voice. I welcome the complexity of an identity instead of flattening it to labels that may result in othering. I believe that photography and visual storytelling has the power to connect as much as divide communities. With rising issues on borders, stigma and general loss of identity around the world, I aim to use my work to advocate for social justice and understanding.
Awards & Nominations Women Photograph & Getty Images grant 2022, grantee Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus 2022, winner World Press Photo Regional Award 2022, winner Fotoevidence W Award, 2022, winner Phmuseum Women Grant, 2021, finalist 6Mois Photojournalism Award, 2021, finalist The British Journal Of Photography's Ones To Watch, 2021 Everyday Projects Grant, 2021, finalist Marilyn Stafford Award, 2021, honourable mention World Press Photo Awards, Contemporary Issues category, 2021, shortlisted Philip Jones Griffiths Award, 2021, honourable mention Creative Activism Award, 2021, grantee National Geographic Society Emergency Grant for Journalists, 2020, grantee Arab Documentary Photography Program, 2020, grantee Photo Fringe Solo20, 2020, shortlisted Marilyn Stafford Award, 2020, shortlisted The Royal Photographic Society Best Graduates Feature, 2020 Catchlight Fellowship, 2020, honourable mention Art Jameel Grant for Artists, 2020, grantee Joop Swart Masterclass, 2020, nominee
Membership Women Photograph Diversify Photo RUWA World Press’ African Photojournalism Database Education Documentary Practice & Visual Journalism, The International Center of Photography, (online), 2020-2021 Photography MA, distinction award, Falmouth University, UK (online), 2018-2020 Photography BA, Helwan University, Egypt, 2006-2011
Workshops Canon Student Development Programme, trained by Lars Lindemann and Aida Muluneh, 2020 Noor-Nikon Masterclass, trained by Tanya Habjouqa, Jon Lowenstein and Sebastein Liste, Spain, 2019 International Summer School Of Photography, trained by Tanya Habjouqa, Latvia, 2019
Selected Exhibitions San Jose Photo Festival, San Jose, 2023 Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, 2023 Theatre of Dreams, Breda Photo Festival, Breda, 2022 An Expression of Absence, Magnum Foundation, New York, 2022 Art and Embroidery, Bunder Kunstmuesum, Chur, 2022 World Press Photo winners world tour exhibition, 2022 Foto Wien, Vienna, 2022 The Everyday Projects, Oldenburg, 2022 Edited, Berlin, 2022 Photo Vogue Festival, Milan, 2021 Hamburg Portfolio Reviews exhibition, Hamburg, 2021 This Was The Year That Was, New York, 2021 Oceano Alterado, The Journal collective, Sao Paulo, 2021 Looks Like Us, The Journal collective exhibition, Toronto, 2021 New Stories New Horizons, The Everyday Projects collective, Cairo Photo Week, Cairo, 2021 ICP concerned, New York, 2020 Photo Fringe festival, United Kingdom, 2020 Athens Photo Festival, Athens, 2020 Landings, Falmouth University graduates, online, 2020 Youth of Egypt, Carte Blanche, Egypt, 2019 Territory, by Native, Kunsthaus Flora, Berlin, 2019 Roznama, Cairo, 2015
Talks Conducted ICP documentary students, 2023 Falmouth University BA students, 2023 Global Photographies, 2023 World Press Photo Hamburg exhibition opening, 2022 British University in Cairo, 2022 Canon Student Program, 2022 Photopia Cairo, 2022 National Museum Of Women's Art, International Women's Day event, 2022 The International Center of Photography Alumni talk, 2022 Quietly Loud guest lecture, 2021 Falmouth University guest lecture, 2021 Women Photograph Workshop events, 2021 The Royal Photographic Society, 2020
Teaching The American University in Cairo, 2013-2015 and 2022-present Freelance, 2009-present
Books The Longing Of The Stranger Whose Path Has Been Broken, 2022, co-published by Foto Evidence and Trobades & Premis Mediterranis Albert Camus Roots Guide: Stories from the Netherlands, 2021, self published with the support of the National Geographic Society Sinai Flora Field Guide, 2021, self published with the support of National Geographic Society and Creative Activism Award The Road To Tahrir, 2011, American University in Cairo Press
Languages Arabic (mother tongue) English (fluent) Spanish (basic)