Egypt Through the Lens: Leaders

Egypt Through the Lens is a four-part series about how photographers recorded the modern history of Egypt over 150 years – its kings, presidents, politics, conflicts and cinema.

The first episode sees Egypt’s rulers captured on camera, from the earliest recorded still images of Egypt’s royal family taken in 1836 to the country’s first presidents in the mid-20th century. King Farouk’s whole life was documented in photographs, from his birth in 1920 to his abdication in 1952. Farouk understood the importance of photographs as a PR tool and tried to control his public image – but with limited success. Gamal Abdel Nasser took his own informal photos, offering a behind-the-scenes look into his presidency in the 1960s. His successor Anwar Sadat was also keenly aware of the power of photography. One iconic picture shows him in a traditional jalabiya, sitting on a rural porch sharing pastries with farmers, aimed at showing the president as a man of the people.