CairoScene Photo of the Week: Mohamed Mahdy

"This is probably the only image in my archive that makes people smile," Egyptian photographer Mohamed Mahdy tells CairoScene in the debut edition of our new weekly series, Photo of the Week. 

Each week, we'll speak with one of Egypt's image-makers—the photographers documenting, archiving and shaping the visual memory of contemporary Egypt—and ask them to choose the single image that best captures their practice, their perspective and the way they see the world.

Mohamed Mahdy's work sits at the intersection of documentary photography and advocacy, reflecting his broader practice as a visual storyteller and educator focused on marginalised and often unseen communities across Egypt. He was recently selected for World Press Photo 2026 for his project ‘Moon Valley’, and also recently hosted his first solo exhibition in Denmark, ‘455 Days’, at Galleri Image.

What’s the story behind this image? Where and when was it taken?

This picture was taken in the Old Tower at Rashid. I was photographing there and met this boy, Ahmed, who told me he had a baby chick friend and asked me if I wanted him to bring it. I told him yes. I think the chick was hungry, so it kept biting Ahmed's ear, which made him laugh.

Why did you choose this particular image?

This is the only image in my archive that makes people smile. With documentary photography, it's easy to end up with dramatic or sad images, or ones that reveal insights into people's lives, but I think it's much harder to make someone happy through a documentary photograph. I think that's the hardest thing you can do as a documentary photographer.