Badawy Archive Uncovers Alexandria’s Forgotten Visual Histories

At Cairo Photo Week, a quiet basement in Alexandria becomes a lens through which three photojournalists reimagine Egypt’s visual memory and what it means to preserve it.

What started as a space for experimentation, where light, dust, and forgotten cameras invited creative play, has grown into something far more profound. For photojournalists Abdelaziz Badawy, Hazem Gouda, and Ahmed Nagy Draz, the Badawy Archive is an ongoing conversation with memory, authorship, and the passage of time.

Hazem Gouda puts it simply, “The images in this archive are actually survivors.” That survival shapes their approach to the material. “We’re trying to view ‘ruined’ images differently, which is why we showcased the negatives that were withered by time,” adds Draz. These fragile pieces, often dismissed as damaged or unusable, take on new meaning in their hands.

Their latest exhibition, A Visual Trilogy, offers a layered reading of Alexandria’s overlooked visual histories. Staged at the historic Shiurbagy Villa, a 1960s home that mirrors the era of many of the photographs, the show unfolds across three conceptual chapters. Together, they chart the life and work of photographer Ahmed Badawy while engaging with the archive itself as both a fragile subject and a symbol of creative resistance.

The first chapter introduces Badawy through his own photographs. The second takes viewers underground, into the very basement where the archive lay dormant for decades. Negatives, cameras, and film reels sat gathering dust, carrying the quiet weight of a forgotten legacy. The final chapter brings us to the present, where the three photojournalists offer their own artistic interpretations, questioning how time alters meaning and how image-makers carry the responsibility of care.

Abdelaziz Badawy reflects on the ongoing process, saying, “We keep discovering new stories as we dig in the archive.” This continuous uncovering shapes the exhibition’s spirit, reminding us that archives are living histories rather than static records. In a video installation by Samar Bayoumi, fragments of sound and movement from today’s Alexandria intertwine with images of Badawy, creating a subtle dialogue between eras.

The past does not stay in place, and the archive is not treated as sacred. Instead, time is framed as an artist in its own right, shaping what remains and how it is seen.