The Nile Parade Is a Floating Art Installation/Intervention

The Nile Parade occupies a space so specific it almost resists categorisation. It’s not quite a festival, not quite an NGO activation. A party, an exhibition, a workshop, a social intervention and a community gathering. Rooted in Qursaya Island, it’s a project that insists artists, social workers, residents and fishermen collaborate.

Initiated by photojournalist-first, documentary photographer-second (his words) Roger Anis, the project grew out of years spent tracing the Nile River basin through his lens. Originally from Minya, Anis’ work has taken him across Ethiopia, Sudan and back to Qursaya, using photography as a tool for social intervention. His research led him to Arousset El Nile and the ancient tradition of the Nile Parade. So he brought it back. Materialised through a collaboration with VeryNile, already active in Qursaya, working alongside local fishermen to clean plastic from the river and foster environmental stewardship.

Now in its third edition, the parade has grown. Hundreds line the banks to witness boats transformed into art installations float along the Nile to mark Nile Day. Anis brought in production designer Ammar Abo Bakr to art direct the event and commission artists to work with local communities on the design of each boat.

“Artists and residents speak a different language, which is why we hosted workshops to help make that collaboration happen. Eventually, they would suggest materials found in Qursaya that could shape the art pieces,” Anis tells CairoScene.

In a garden at the heart of the festival, Anis’ photographs hang openly along the banks, no white walls, no gallery framing. The images return to the people they depict. More often than not, those studying the photographs are the very subjects within them.

The parade is one of the few public community events in Cairo. For one day along the Nile River, the destination becomes the protagonist and lifeline that brings people together to dance, look at art and surrender to Egypt’s enduring current.