Rehab Eldalil
Rehab Eldalil’s practice demonstrates an intersection between collaboration, human and environmental stories and interdisciplinary experimentations. She confronts colonial narratives concerning the Global South by challenging traditional documentary frameworks to develop methods involving subjects to become participants in the creative process. Through direct engagement with community members, she invites them to contribute by using familiar mixed mediums like embroidery, writing or drawing. Encouraging visual dialogue by empowering their autonomy. Resulting in layered and comprehensive visual narratives that challenge the exoticism of communities, including her own as an African and Arabic woman.
With a photography BA from Helwan University, Egypt, MA from Falmouth University, UK and one year certificate from the International Centre of Photography in New York, USA Eldalil has focused on collaborative approaches and ethics in visual storytelling since 2013.
She’s most known for her projects The Longing of the Stranger Whose Path Has Been Broken (2012-2022), South Sinai Flora Field Guide (2019-2021) and From the Ashes I Rose (2024-ongoing). Her work spans personal projects, NGO collaborations, and publications.
In addition to being featured in numerous international publications, Eldalil’s commissioned work has been featured in the New York Times magazine, National Geographic, HuffPost, Le Monde and Nature among others.
As a photography instructor since 2012, Eldalil has designed and conducted numerous modules serving institutional and private sectors. She’s an adjunct professor of practice at the American University in Cairo, recurring guest lecturer at Falmouth University and mentor at Nature Environment Wildlife Filmmakers community (NEWF) teaching the Reimagining African Narratives program. In addition, Eldalil conducts various workshops and masterclasses with cultural and private institutes such as Goethe, DMJX and Photopia.
To date, Eldalil has published two photographic books. The Longing of the Stranger Whose Path Has Been Broken, published in early 2023, is a result of a decade-long collaboration with the Jebeleya tribe of St. Catherine in South Sinai, Egypt. Exploring the notion of belonging that is defined through the community’s interconnectedness with the land and reflecting on the indigenous experience. The South Sinai Flora Field Guide published in 2021, is a collaboration with the tribe elders of the Jebeleya to archive and document the rich flora of the region including its medicinal uses and practical information on how, when and where to harvest the plants and herbs. The first edition of the field guide was distributed to the younger members of the community as a bridge between generations to inherit indigenous knowledge and reconnect to the land. Both books were ignited by Rehab Eldalil’s personal quest to reconnect to her Bedouin ancestry by connecting to the existing Bedouin communities. The projects were funded by Magnum Foundation, National Geographic Society, Arab Funds for Arts and Culture, Trobades Premis Albert Camus Award, Fotoevidence W Award and Creative Activism Award. In addition, Eldalil has contributed to many other visual publications since 2011.
Solo Exhibitions:
2024, From the Ashes I Rose, Milan, Italy
2024, From the Ashes I Rose, Cortona on the Move festival, Italy
2023, The Longing of the Stranger, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
2023, The Longing of the Stranger, Sharjah Biennial, UAE
2023, The Longing of the Stranger, Breda Photo Festival, Breda, The Netherlands
2023, The Longing of the Stranger, San Jose Photo Festival, Uruguay
Selected group Exhibitions:
2025, Ground Up, Aarhus, Denmark
2024, Tides, Cairo, Egypt
2024, Foam Talents, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2023, Shifting Sands, Madrid, Spain
2022, Art and Embroidery, Bunder Kunstmuesum, Chur, Switzerland
2022, An Expression of Absence, Magnum Foundation, New York