Gezicht op de moskee en het mausoleum van sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, Caïro 1888 - 1895

Jean Pascal Sébah made this photograph of the mosque and mausoleum of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey in Cairo. The photographer's position is interesting here. We see the mosque and mausoleum in the background, while the foreground is populated with low buildings with little ornamentation. The single figure of a man on the right of the image seems to be included to add some local colour. The photograph was made at a time when European colonial powers were taking an increasing interest in Egypt. Images such as this were used to document the region and to present it to a European audience. The photographer's position, with the local population and vernacular architecture in the foreground and the grand mosque in the background, is emblematic of this dynamic. This photograph must be understood in the context of European colonialism and the Western gaze on the Middle East. To understand this image better, we might want to research the history of European colonialism in Egypt and the ways in which photography was used to document and promote it.