Orabi JPEG 2866 x 4012 px

Cairo Sunset before the revolution

Cairo Sunset was created by misha de ridder during an artist-in-residence at Townhouse Gallery in downtown Cairo, Egypt, five years before the 25 January Revolution of 2011. On foot, wearing sandals and a long-sleeved shirt blending in with the crowds in the dusty streets of Cairo, misha walked for months through the metropolis during sunset, trying to get a grip on the elusive magical city, looking for something to hold on to, perhaps a place to spend some time alone.

“Visiting Dutch artist misha de ridder is still trying to find the focus of his series of photographs of Cairo as it changes in one afternoon’s gradual sunset. Starting at the pyramids outside Cairo, his work spirals inward through the brick tenements of Giza and posh hotels of Garden City, finally ending up downtown. With bright colors and crisp edges, he manages to capture a surprisingly sharp image of Cairo, more vivid than what most of us see through the smog and traffic.” – International Herald Tribune - Daily Star Egypt, 7 December 2006

The work, apart from a blog, has never been published. Now, fifteen years later, the photographs have been restored and remastered using new digital technology. The proceeds from this NFT sale of a limited number of twenty-two photographs will be used to unlock the entire archive in a photo book.

misha de ridder, 2006 (remastered 2021)