Nermine Hammam was born in Cairo in 1967. She moved to England in 1979 and to the United States in 1985, where she earned a B.F.A. in filmmaking from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, in 1989. She started her career in the film industry working with the New York-based Simn and Goodman Picture Company and renowned Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine. She moved back to Cairo permanently in 1992 and since then has been working as a photographer and graphic designer. She is known for using painting and photographic techniques to create distinctive prints. Her subjects tend to be individuals in states of abandonment or altered consciousness, whether from transcendental spiritual ceremonies or quotidian encounters.
She has exhibited extensively internationally, and her most recent solo shows include Cairo, Year One (2012), The Mosaic Rooms in association with Rose Issa Projects, London; Anachrony (2012), Safarkhan Gallery, Cairo; Metanoia (2010), Townhouse Gallery, Cairo; Escaton (2009), Townhouse Gallery, Cairo; Palimpsest (2007), Opera House, Cairo, and Townhouse Gallery, Cairo; Portraits of Ashoura (2006), Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, and Artmenparis, Paris; Apotheosis (2005), Karim Francis Gallery, Cairo; Metamorphosis (2004), Espace SD, Beirut; and Portrait (2001), Hanager Arts Center, Cairo. Hammam’s recent group shows include Power! Photos! Freedom! (2013), FotoMuseum, Antwerpen, Belgium; Light from the Middle East: New Photography (2012), Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Suwar: Pictorial Representions from the Arab World (2012), and Re-Orientations II (2012), Rose Issa Projects, London; The Changing Room: Arab Reflections on Praxis and Times (2011), 54th Venice Biennale; Recontres de Bamako 2011, the 9th African Photography Biennial in Mali; Traits d’Union: Paris et l’art contemporain arabe (2011), an Art Absolument magazine exhibition, Villa Emerige, Paris; Land of the Hyperreal: Contemporary Art from Egypt (2010), Memorial Jose, Revolution Square, Havana; 10th Cuenca International Biennial (2009), Ecuador; and Photoquai 2009, Museum de quay Branly, Paris.
