In October 2021, the photographer María Primo was invited to an artist residency in Luxor by the Department of Culture of the Spanish Embassy in Egypt. He stayed at the Marsam, a charming hotel from 1920 steeped in history on the slopes of the Theban necropolis, west of Luxor (ancient Thebes), on the west bank of the Nile. On this sacred mountain, crowned by the Qurn peak, pyramid-shaped, are the Valley of the Kings, of the Queens, of the Artisans, of the Nobles and many other great temples of Ancient Egypt. Also on its slope we find the remains of the village of Gourna (Al Qúrna), whose first settlements date back to the 17th century.
It was a town that expanded on the tombs of the nobles, without any order due to the uncontrolled traffic of antiquities due to the demand of the international market. In 1940, the first attempt to relocate the 7,000 residents of the place by the Government took place, which commissioned the acclaimed architect Hassan Fathy, a world pioneer in sustainable architecture, to build a new town that became his iconic project thanks to the sophisticated technology adapted to the environment and in the way in which populations without resources were thought of.
“During my stay I focused on visiting these places, researching the stories about grave robbers and sustainable architecture. In addition, inspired by the ancient Egyptian civilization, where the natural environment was part of their worldview, I wanted to delve into the relationship between culture and nature, the modern and the traditional, progress and conservation, with stories about the Nile, sacred trees , climate change, the impact of tourism and the role of women, where everything is interconnected”, recalls Primo. As Donna Haraway said, “nothing is connected to everything, everything is connected to something”.
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