Here, the doors don’t know me
Mohamed Mahdy
RM
English
Hardcover
144 pages
180× 230 mm
2026
ISBN 9788410290518
Winner of the III Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus Incipiens, celebrating socially committed art. A powerful portrait of a disappearing community in Alexandria, Egypt told from within. Combines photography, personal letters, and archives to explore memory and loss.
This publication is the result of the III Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus Incipiens, organized by the Trobades & Premis Mediterranis Albert Camus of Menorca. Initiated in 2016, the project follows—through photography, community archives, handwritten letters, and testimonies—the residents of Al-Max, a historic fishing neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt, now facing displacement. As urban development erases its daily life and traditions, Mohamed Mahdy builds the work with the residents themselves: families share archives, write final letters before leaving their homes, and shape how they are represented. The project reflects on how memory, identity, and belonging endure when a place is physically lost. The Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus Incipiens amplifies the work of emerging authors who embody Camus’ vision to “give voice to the voiceless.” In its third edition, the jury—Monica Allende, Carla Fibla, and Tanya Habjouqa—selected Here, the Doors Don’t Know Me for Mahdy’s deep engagement with the community, his inventive visual storytelling, and his sensitivity in portraying shared histories.
With contributions by Al-Max Protagonists, Fred Ritchen and Sandra Maunac.
(Source: https://editorialrm.com/en/producto/here-the-doors-dont-know-me)
About the Artist
Mohamed Mahdy (Egypt, b. 1996) is a visual storyteller and educator based in Alexandria, Egypt. He holds a degree in Arts and Design from Pharos University in Alexandria (PUA) and completed two diplomas at the Danish School for Media and Journalism (DMJX) in Aarhus, Denmark, supported by a scholarship from the Ecca Family Foundation. He is a 2021 Photography & Social Justice Fellow with the Magnum Foundation, and has participated in workshops and seminars with National Geographic, AFAC, PCF, and Mawred, as well as a residency at ESA — L’École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence. In 2018, Mahdy was named by the New York Times Lens Blog as one of twelve emerging photographers to watch. In 2022, The Guardian selected him as one of five emerging talents in photojournalism, and he received the Canon Student Development Program award that same year.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Altonaer Museum in Hamburg, Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Geopolis in Belgium, Photoville in New York, and Sharjah Art Foundation. He has held three solo exhibitions in Egypt. In 2023, Mahdy received both a regional and global World Press Photo Award for his interactive web documentary “Here the Doors Don’t Know Me” — among the most prestigious recognitions in visual journalism. He has also been honored with the Photography Prize from La Fondation des Treilles and the III Premi Mediterrani Albert Camus Incipiens award.
https://mohammedmahdy.com
(Source: https://mohammedmahdy.com/about)
About the Publisher
RM is an independent, prestigious publisher focusing primarily on photography and contemporary art, while also maintaining a curated catalogue of Latin American literary classics. RM currently has offices in Spain and Mexico and with more than 500 titles by or about writers and artists of international stature such as: Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Graciela Iturbide, Saul Leiter, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Martin Parr, Julio Cortázar, Daido Moriyama, Luis Barragán, Diego Rivera, Masao Yamamoto, Juan Rulfo, Jeff Wall and Pablo Ortiz Monasterio among others. RM’s work aims to enhance the trends and legacy of visual culture in Latin America, maintaining a line of work of the highest standards which reflects on the history and origins of the visual image.
https://editorialrm.com
(Source: https://editorialrm.com/en/sobre-nosotros/)
