Behind the Scenes

Hekayyatna presents a Photography Exhibition centring Egyptian workers. Available to browse during in-person events or Thursday afternoon drop-in sessions throughout June 2026.

Running across the walls of the EES building for the full month, Behind the Scenes is a group photography exhibition that centres the Egyptian workers whose labour has sustained the archaeology and tourism industries, and whose stories have rarely made it into the archive. Contemporary photographs submitted by Egyptian diaspora photographers through an open call are shown in direct dialogue with historical images from the EES's own photographic archive: excavation photographs, field portraits, and documentary images spanning the society's 140-year history. Curated by Egyptian photographer and anthropologist Halima Ibrahim (University of Oxford), the exhibition highlights the hidden hands of the Egyptology industry.