FIRE IN CAIRO
Photographs and text by Matthew Connors
SPBH Editions, London, 2015
Hardcover, Lithography
7.75 x 10 in (19.9 x 25.4 cm)
148 pages, 91 images
Edition of 1,000

2016 ICP Infinity Award: Artist’s Book

Fire in Cairo emerged from Egypt as an oblique and fragmentary document of revolutionary struggle. The book charts Matthew Connors’ uneasy engagement with the political turmoil that gripped the nation during its rapidly unfolding history. The complexity of the situation resisted comprehensive explanation, but invited metaphorical speculation. In his images Cairo reveals itself to be an enormous studio for social change, ripe with visual, sculptural and atmospheric residues of resistance. Matthew weaves these together with portraits of Egyptians from across the political spectrum and his own experimental fiction. The result is a book that careens between reportage, poetry and surrealism to heighten the tensions between beauty, threat and historical consequence.

REVIEWS
Brian Sholis, frieze
Adam Bell, photo-eye
Jörg M. Coberg, Conscientious Photo Magazine
Max Houghton, 1000 Words
Olga Yatskevich, Collector Daily
Paul Moakley, TIME Lightbox

LISTS
2016 ICP Infinity Award: Artist’s Book
2015 Paris Photo – Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Awards Shortlist
Arles 2015 Author Book Award Shortlist
The Guardian Best Photography Books of 2015
Humble Arts Foundation Best Photobooks of 2015
photo-eye Best Books of 2015: Gerry Badger
photo-eye Best Books of 2015: Aaron Schuman
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