Passionate about photography and collecting vintage cameras, Abdalla dives back into his archive of photographs taken between 2010 and 2021, both analogue and digital, and explores his fascination with the concept of time, or ‘zaman’, its chronological passage, its impermanence, and questions the hierarchy we assign images from our recollection.
Each of the 19 large colour archival pigment prints is made up of superimpositions of disregarded photographs where he investigates how we recollect and remember. Visually, the work references both long exposure photography and chronophotography.
His photographs are an exploration of everything that lays outside of the frame arbitrarily chosen to encapsulate a memory.
Ahmad Abdalla (b.1978, Egypt) is a filmmaker and photographer who has become an integral part of the new wave of independent cinema in the Arab world. Deceiving Time is his first gallery exhibition showcasing his photographic works.
A widely screened, award-winning filmmaker, Abdalla originally studied classical music before moving to film directing.
He is best known as director of feature films ‘Heliopolis’ (2009), ‘Microphone'(2010), ‘Rags & Tatters’ (2013), ‘Decor’ (2015) and ‘EXT/Night’ (2018) and he co-directed ’18 Days’ (2011).
His many prizes include best director in regional and local festivals such as Dubai Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Antigone Prize at the Cinemed Film Festival of Montpellier, the Golden Tanit Prize in Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, and the Golden Tulip in Istanbul International Film Festival.
His films have participated in other festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival, the London BFI, International Film Festival Singapore, and the São Paulo International Film Festival.
He is currently working on a new long feature film entitled ‘19B’ (Working Title), written & directed by him and produced by Mohamed Hefzy (Film Clinic).
