The City of the Dead, Cairo 1998-2000

Cairo, Egypt, The City of the Dead 1999 – Some 1/2 million people inhabit the massive, 7km long cemetery that borders the easter side of Cairo. They form a complete civilization living on top of, within, and around the graves of their ancestors. Shot as a self assignment after working in Egypt on the Akenaten Temple Project digs.

Back when I was in art school at Pratt I was inspired by the harsh, vibrant city landscape around my apartment in New York’s 80’s Lower East Side, as well as the street photography of Pratt professor Philip Perkis. With the abandoned squats, industrial areas in Brooklyn and the easily access Williamsburg Bridge I dove into in shooting. 1988 New York as gritty and primal. Once I was out of school I found I wanted more of that intensity and more insight into what I could do with photography. I ended up embarking on a documentary shooting workshop with Mary Ellen Mark in Mexico, in 1998. From there I got so inspired to try difficult documentary work that on discovering the City of the Dead sin Cairo for myself I just knew I had to dive in and make a project out of it. I never figured out how to sell it or publish which always felt a little like a failure but decades on now it but it is still my largest project and one am immensely proud of.