As part of the Institut français’s flagship programme: Saison Méditerranée 2026, my exhibition Mediterranean Reflections from Alexandria and Marseille, was inaugurated at the Institut français d’Alexandrie, in the presence of the Ambassador and the Consul of France in Egypt.
This exhibition presents a visual dialogue between the two Mediterranean port cities, moving beyond their postcard pre-structured images. The work delves into the ordinary urban fabric, the thresholds, shopfronts, and everyday informal practices that shape their unique heritage and cultural identities. Drawing on the concept of the “Third Place,” the photographs and drawings on display read the Mediterranean street as a shared living room, a space where domestic life and collective memory extend into the public sphere. By de-emphasising monumentality in favour of the “ordinary,” this practice-based research offers a counter-narrative to mainstream heritage discourse, proposing the Mediterranean as a shared sensory environment that transcends political borders. The research explores how societies are influenced and shaped by urban identity, cultural heritage, and collective memory. Additionally, it examines how similarities and/or differences may represent different expressions of a shared Mediterranean vocabulary, reflected in architecture, urban planning, and social practices.
The exhibition will run until March 15, 2026.
Photos copyrights: Institut français d’Alexandrie
Mohamed Gohar 