Environment Shortlist

Lake Qarun, located in the Fayoum in south west Egypt, is one of the oldest lakes in the world, containing fossils that are millions of years old. During the Pharaonic era, flooding meant that this low-lying lake was supplied with freshwater from the Nile, but since the start of the 20th Century it has grown increasingly saline. Various fish species have already disappeared due to increased pollution and changes to the climate, and the health of Lake Qarun and the wildlife within it are now seriously endangered by its rising saline level, which is higher than that of seawater. To compound this, a parasitic infection has spread throughout the lake, which has negatively impacted fish production and quality, thereby harming the fishing community in Fayoum: the number of fishing boats operating in the lake has decreased from 605 to just 10 boats. This project attempts to explore the lives of the fishermen residing in the village of Ezbat Soliman, near Lake Qarun, and how the lake’s pollution affects them.

Fatma Fahmy (b. 1991, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) is a documentary photographer, based in Cairo. Fahmy obtained a B. A degree in Chemical Engineering from Cairo University in 2013.

She focuses on environmental concerns and Social issues affected by the environment and migration.

In 2020, she was a recipient of the Daniele Tamagni Grant at the Market Photo Workshop which assisted her to join the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Programme. In 2020 she was named by the PhMuseum as one of the African Photographers you should know. She has been working with several local and international NGO’s since 2021. Clients include Reuters, Libération, Prier magazine, RVO, CNN, and National Geographic Magazine. Her photographs have also been exhibited in Ethiopia, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United Arab Emirates.