For years we couldn’t talk about my grandmother. My parents didn’t want me to attend her funeral, and later I couldn’t get myself to visit her grave. Meanwhile, I waited impatiently to enter an ancient tomb and stare in fascination at a mummy. The Fourth Pyramid Belongs To Her is an ongoing photographic body of work constructed on analogies between the experience of losing my grandmother and the many conflicting yet coexisting perceptions of death that surrounded me as I grew up in Egypt – a country shaped by its history as the necropolis of an ancient civilization buried under years of sand. Mourners, undertakers, tourists, archaeologists, smugglers, and sometimes boys playing hide and seek all intersect in this nationwide cemetery, yet each relates to it in their unique ways. Through juxtapositions, the project acts as a visual commentary on contemporary ways of seeing the dead in Egypt. It particularly addresses the apathy towards ancient remains by portraying my grandmother as a pharaoh and thereby instilling my ancestors’ humanity.
Sara Sallam is a documentary photographer and media designer, working with still and moving images, text, sound, and found archival material. She pursued a BA in media design from the German University in Cairo in 2013, and was awarded the UAL Vice Chancellor?s Scholarship in 2015 leading to her MA in photojournalism and documentary photography from the London College of Communication. Sara?s photobook, ?The Invisible: Faith as a Phenomenon? was shortlisted in Kassel Photobook award, Photo Independent Art Fair, and was exhibited in Offprint 2016. www.sarasallam.com
Sara Sallam is a documentary photographer and media designer, working with still and moving images, text, sound, and found archival material. She pursued a BA in media design from the German University in Cairo in 2013, and was awarded the UAL Vice Chancellor?s Scholarship in 2015 leading to her MA in photojournalism and documentary photography from the London College of Communication. Sara?s photobook, ?The Invisible: Faith as a Phenomenon? was shortlisted in Kassel Photobook award, Photo Independent Art Fair, and was exhibited in Offprint 2016. www.sarasallam.com