Amina Kadous (1991-) is a visual artist based in Cairo, Egypt. She received her Bachelor in Fine Arts from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine arts in Boston. Her work tackles concepts of memory and identity. She believes in the ephemerality of experience. Nothing lasts, documentation of experiences, of the objects and moments of the physical world only lasts when it is passed on. She believes a photograph is an object that holds memories and meanings, keepsakes that give life. Photography as an art has been a medium allowing her to treasure, hold and bless the past she has not lived but only through the stories and eyes of those who have narrated it. Her work is a linkage between the past and present through the layers of time as they fold and unfold. The exploration of time serves, for her, as a means for understanding who she is as a person. Characterizing herself as an explorer of ideas, she is driven by the spirit of inquiry as she seeks to comprehend the meanings and hidden ambiguities of lives, not her own, through the interactive nature of viewer, photographer, object and environment. She is driven by experience as a woman and an Egyptian. That is her signature: her work, like time, evolves…

Her work has been exhibited widely in many venues and festivals including Bamako Biennale of Photography ( Mali), Where she was awarded the Centre Soleil d’Afrique Prize for her project, “A crack in the Memory of My Memory”. This prize is awarded to an outstanding female artist from Africa whose work shows signs of promise and development. She also exhibited recently in Lagos Photo Festival ( Nigeria), Africa Foto Fair (Cote D’ivoire), PhotoESPANA ( Madrid ), 1:54 Art Fair with the Photographic Collective( London), The AfriKa Museum ( Netherlands), Tropen museum ( Netherlands), Thessaloniki Photobiennale (Greece). In 2020, she was awarded The Arab Documentary Photography Program grant which was supported by Magnum Foundation and Prince Claus foundation. In 2021, she was one of the top ten finalists for the Everyday projects grant for her current long-term series “ White Gold”. In 2022, She was awarded the Contemporary African photography Prize for her project “White Gold”, in the same year she was also awarded the Prix De La Photo Madame Figaro at Arles photography festival for the same series.In 2023 her project “ White Gold” was also nominated for the Prix Pictet prestigious award and Deutsche Börse prestigious Prize. Kadous was awarded the Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Award in 2023.

Solo Show:

- White Gold , Kranj Foto Festival, Kranj, Slovenia 2023

- White Gold, Thessaloniki PhotoBiennale, MOMus, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2023

Group Exhibitions:

Elastic Vision Curated by Faridah Folawiyo, Efie Gallery, Dubai, UAE, 2024
Ground State—Fellowship Within the Uncanny, 14th Edition of Lagos Photo Festival, Republic of Bénin, Lagos 2023
Africa Foto Fair, Second Edition, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire 2023
Shifting Sands: Environmental issues in the Arab world, Casa Arabe, Cordoba, Spain 2023
Love and other Acts of Will, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe 2023
Shifting Sands: Environmental issues in the Arab world, Casa Arabe, Photo Espane 2023
CAP prize exhibition in Leipzig Photobook Festival, Grassi Museum, Leipzig, 2023
Our Time, Even in Dreams, 6th edition of Jaou Tunis contemporary Art Festival, Tunis 2022
Alexandria Crossing Past & Present, Goethe Institute, Alexandria, Egypt 2022
If A tree falls in a forest Exhibition, Arles photography Festival, France, 2022
Past Forward – Time, Life and Longing, Cortona on the Move, Alula, Saudi Arabia, 2022
More Than A Number Exhibition, ffotogallery, Cardiff, Wales 2021

Through the Lens Exhibition, Tropen Museum, Amsterdam 2021-2023

The Everyday Projects: New Stories and Horizons Exhibition, Townhouse Gallery 2021
Roznama 8 Visual arts exhibition, CIC, Downtown Cairo 2021
My favorite Things 5, Mahrabeia Gallery, Downtown Cairo 2020
1-54 African contemporary Art Fair with The Photographic Collective, London, UK 2020
Welcome Home Vol.II Exhibition , Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marakech 2020
Vantage Point Sharjah 8 (VPS8), Al Hamriyah Studios, Al Sharjah 2020

Estate Fotografia 2020, Fourth Editon online version , Africa, Siracusana, Italy 2020
“ Connecting views: Talents from the APJD '', Afrika Museum , Berg en Dal, The Netherlands 2020
12th Edition Les Encontres de Bamako, Biennale Africaine de La Photographie, Mali 2019
Cairographie- Multiple states of youth, Darb1718, Cairo 2019
Hakawi - Tales of Contemporary Egypt, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris 2019
“Soft Hands” AlAydy AlNaema , Seek The Nook, Zamalek, Egypt 2019
Cairo Photo week, SARD Exhitbition, Photopia Cairo, Egypt 2018
OFF Something Else Biennale Cairo, Darb 1718 (multiple Locations), Cairo, Egypt 2018
City as Agent of Change, Townhouse Rawabet, Cairo, Egypt 2017
Cairographie first edition, Darb1718, Cairo, Egypt 2017
The onlooker, Shnit film festival x Cairo Saturday walks, Cairo, Egypt 2017
Public art piece, “Inside Out collaboration project : Echo of Others”, El Shatby Alexandria, Egypt 2017
Naema’s Office is Bleeding Exhibition 2, Medrar Contemporary Art, Garden City, Egypt 2016
THAT ART FAIR, Cape Town,South Africa 2016
Mohamed Abla's Competition for Painting and Drawing, Greek Campus, Egypt 2016
Print and paper Area show, SMFA, Boston, MA 2015
Rhinospective POP-UP Store, Boston, MA 2014
Painting Biennial, SMFA, Boston, MA 2014
All School Drawing Area show, SMFA,Boston, MA 2014
Print and paper Area show, SMFA, Boston, MA 2014
SMFA Art Sale Show, SMFA, Boston, MA 2013
Print and Paper Area show, SMFA, Boston, MA 2013
Histories of Now: Space for Dialogue, Art and Activism, Grossman Gallery, Boston, MA 2013
24th Annual Student Show at the Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA 2013
Photorealism, CSM college of Arts and Design, UK 2011
End of year show, CSM college of Arts and Design, UK 2011

Awards:

Finalist International Photography Award Encontros da Imagem 2023
Kranj Foto Fest winner theme Human & Nature 2023
PRIX DE LA PHOTO MADAME FIGARO, RENCONTRES ARLES 2022
Everyday Projects Grant, Finalist 2022
Contemporary African Photography Prize 2022
Centre Soleil d’Afrique Prize at the 12th Edition of Bamako Biennale 2019
Mohamed Abla's Competition for Painting and Drawing 2016
Print and Paper Area award, SMFA, Boston, MA 2015
President Research Award, SMFA Boston, MA 2014

Scholarships:

Apprenticeship in Dana Whabira Studio part of The online edition of Kampala Art Biennale 2020
The Red Pill : Uncharted territories of personal Narrative Liberation workshop with Tanya Habjouqa, Gulf Photo Week, Dubai , UAE 2019
The foundry photojournalism workshop, Kigali, Rawanda 2019
The Women Photograph Mentorship Program, Class of 2019-2020 2019Residences:

- Fayoum Winter Academy, Tunis Village, Fayoum, Egypt 2016

Grants:

Sheikh Saoud Al Thani award Tasweer grant Project Award 2023
Shortlisted Grand Prix Images Vevey Project award 2023
Finalist at the Everyday Projects Grant 2021
The Seventh cycle of The Arab Documentary Photography Program (ADPP) , The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture 2020-2021
Carte Blanche by Al Safar and Darb1718 2019
Residences:
Fayoum Winter Academy, Tunis Village, Fayoum, Egypt 2016
Black Rock Senegal Artist Residency 2022-2023
Press: