Two DMJX projects shortlisted for the CAP Prize

admin1 year ago on news

The Contemporary African Photography Prize has announced the 25 projects shortlisted for the CAP Prize 2023. Lamees Saleh and Mohamed Mahdy are among the shortlisted photographers with their final DMJX projects.

Hala was kidnapped in 2016. In the picture to the left it’s her sisters, Heba, who is only one year younger than Hala, and Sarah, the oldest sister in Saft El Laban, Giza. In the picture to the right, it’s one of Hala’s dresses hanging outside the family’s home.
Lamees Saleh is nominated for the CAP Prize with her project “Indefinitely”, that documents the lives of the families of kidnapped children through a map. The map’s starting point is forty years ago, with a family still searching for their daughter, leading to other families’ stories following the 2011 revolution and including various reasons for abduction.
Lamees Saleh started the story as her final project during our DEDI/DMJX educational programme in Cairo 2021/22. Photo: Lamees Saleh

Mohamed Mahdy is shortlisted with his collaborative project “Here, the doors don’t know me” that documents the life in the Al Max fishing village, Alexandria, Egypt. Al-Max was called the Middle East’s Venice because it had the same vibes and beauty as Venice, Italy. One day the residents woke up to the news that they had to leave their houses, their history, and possibly their lives as fishers. Now, One-third of the village is gone, and they are like fish in the sea, with nowhere and anywhere to go but no place they can call home.
In “The Doors Don’t Know Me”, Mohamed Mahdy has combined his own photographs with handwritten letters and private archival material from displaced local residents. Mohamed Mahdy made the story about Tamer as his final Diploma Project at DMJX and added the story to the project. Photo by Mohamed Mahdy and hand written text by Tamer.

The five winners of the CAP Prize will be announced on July, 7 2023 at Podesata Photobook Fair during the opening week of Rencontres Arles.