In an exhibition titled They Usually Lie Around a Grotto, Bryony Dunne will showcase her photographs at Townhouse Factory space starting on 25 September. The body of work reflects on the process of photography in a bustling city that challenges documentation of it. “The clamour of the streets is forceful, sites of contestation have become perpetual and monumental, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to be present as a recorder of things,” the exhibition's statement reads. Her photos emerge from “a seemingly secret garden in the heart of a public zoo,” and highlight the contrast between tense public spaces versus pockets of stillness where introspection and documentation is possible. The opening day will also launch a photo book self published by Dunne. The book 'Seeds of the Zoo' includes some images from the exhibition as well as texts written by Sara El-Adl, curator of Townhouse's last exhibit, Elle Kurancid, a Canadian writer, and Hamada El-Rasam, an Egyptian photojournalist. Dunne is an Irish artist based in Cairo. With an MA from University College Dublin in Cultural Heritage Conservation her work merges anthropology and ecology with visual art. In Cairo she was an artist-in-residence at the Townhouse Gallery, then worked on her first short film in Egypt The Orchard Keepers (2014), which screened in over 20 film festivals, and won the first prize at Ethno Film in Croatia. Her second short film Faron (2015) follows the journey of a South American modern pharaoh. Dunne is currently a professor of photography at The German University in Cairo. Programme: The exhibition opens on Sunday 25 September at 7pm and runs until 9 November Townhouse Factory, 10 Nabarawy street, off Champolion street, Downtown, Cairo. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
