Cairo According to: Sherifa Hamid

Cairo-based photographer Sherifa Hamid has been capturing the city and exhibiting in local galleries since 2011. With an academic background in architecture and design, what Hamid sees in Cairo with her photographer’s eye is more than just lines (curves) and symmetry (asymmetry); alongside her commercial and editorial photography, she is developing a long-term digital image database focused on architecture in Egypt and the region to support research on the built environment.

Hamid’s photography is inseparable from her relationship to Cairo, and in this latest Cairo According to, Hamid shares a photo diary of her city from personal archives.

A place that means Cairo to me:

Anywhere with a Mahmoud Mokhtar sculpture. Complete the following: Cairo is…

Surreal…and sometimes amusing. What are your favourite neighbourhoods?

Heliopolis, Garden City, and Zamalek.

Your go-to food spot?

Al Gomhoureya restaurant. Your go-to café?

Coffee while catching up with friends at The Laboratory. A favourite scenic spot?

A felucca sailing off from the Nile Corniche in Garden City. What isn’t a Cairo landmark but should be?

Architect Sayed Karim’s relief in Bab el-Louq. Tell us a song that feels like Cairo.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – In Motion What's a place in Cairo you wish you could revisit for the first time?

Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan.