Tehran Street Photography Festival Awards 2023 - Tehran Street Photography Festival

SERIES WINNER

Jonathan Jasberg

Project Title: Cairo
A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect
Egypt

Project Description: One day, while photographing in a very old neighborhood that never sees tourists wondering through their small winding streets, an older man stopped me and in a confused state asked me why I was taking photos. I was overwhelmed with awe and excitement by the scene I was photographing and motioned to it, stating ‘Just look at it, it’s beautiful.’ He looked, looked back at me and replied ‘beautiful, it’s an old mess’ and walked on.

The ancient Egyptian proverb ‘A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect’ seemed quite fitting for the photographs I was aiming to take of Cairo, a fascinating sprawling metropolis of over 20 million people. A city steeped in history, and yet, most visitors never venture past the pyramids and the main museum before moving on to the other historic cities of Egypt. A city that in 1925 was not only named “The Most Beautiful City In The World”, but also the cleanest city in the world.

A lot has happened in the past century since Cairo beat out other world class cities such as Paris and London for title of the most beautiful city in the world. Indeed, civi unrest, political revolution, danger, terrorism, corruption has all shaped Cairo’s last century of existence. But is that it? Why is this capital city and mega-metropolis of over 20 million people hardly photographed beyond the typical tourist sights? Do locals not see the beauty of their city? Is it extremely dangerous and full of unkind scammers as many news articles and websites would lead you to believe? These and many other questions are what I sought to answer in my numerous lengthy visits wandering countless unmarked streets of forgotten neighborhoods in Cairo, Egypt.

With this series, I aim to take the viewer past the postcard shots of the pyramids and sphinx, and deep into this diverse and historically rich city. To show a glimpse of the complexity of Cairo and the lives of the people through equally complex, quirky, and candid moments of daily life that often raise more questions than provide obvious

answers. Moments that even if we come from a completely different background, we can relate to, smile at, empathize with and appreciate the shared beauty of life.