Frequently Asked Questions

The first and most common reaction we receive from our visitors is What an amazing space!  We pride ourselves on having a destination that is simple, inviting and inspiring - a space where photography is shown with precision and consideration to its production, display, handling and preservation. It is an oasis for photography.

As the first of its kind we have also been asked many questions. Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions. We hope our answers give you a better understanding of who we are and what we have to offer.

FAQ #1:  Why is Tintera dedicated to photography only?

Quite simply photography is what we know and what we love. Both of us have been working in various aspects of the field for over 20 years: from gallery sales and art fairs to advising on collecting photographs, from archiving historical collections to establishing new ones, from our own personal artistic and studio practices to exhibitions, from curating to historical research and published articles, from building art institutions in Egypt that support artists to teaching and more. 

We believe photography is an important medium and a serious art form and yet Cairo’s current commercial art galleries showcase mostly the other arts, like painting and sculpture, and none are focused solely on photography as a fine art and give it the space and consideration it deserves.

Through our experiences in the art world we found that curators and collectors attempting to acquire work by local artists became frustrated by the lack of information available. On different on-line platforms and occasional exhibitions photographic work was being seen but locating the artists and discovering more works was often quite challenging.   

At TINTERA we want our audience to not only easily find these works but to be able to understand how and why they were made, to get to know the artists behind the photographs and to explore other works by them.  

Even though TINTERA is primarily an art venue, we are also keen on promoting the preservation of historic photographs and collections and an understanding of who, why, how, where and when these images were produced.

At TINTERA, we are committed to elevating the status and value of fine art photography in and of Egypt. Through our program of curated exhibitions, talks and publications, we hope to encourage a more informed appreciation of the medium by engaging with specialised and general audiences alike. 

FAQ #2: Why the emphasis on Egypt?

Egypt has a rich and important role to play in the history of photography. This is where some of the earliest photographs were ever taken and is arguably one of the most photographed countries of the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet despite this distinguished status, Egypt does not yet have a dedicated museum or institute of photography. Even though photographic images of or from Egypt hold a strong position in the global imagination in addition to countless archives all over the world, there exists no comprehensive documentation of its practice locally, nor a dedicated place where people can learn about and see photographs or even collect them as art. 

At the core, we have been intrigued by the long history of photography and its multi-layered connections to Egypt - from the first European artists and archeologists that employed photography in documentary ways to the beginnings of studio and art practices creating some of the most iconic and mesmerising photographic albums - and we see its rich, mostly undiscovered contributions up to today.

Our initial goal was to set up a museum of photography in Egypt. Imagine a museum that offers you entrée to Egypt’s engagement with the history of the medium. That’s the ‘big dream’ but in order to get there we first need to start with encouraging a deeper understanding and appreciation of the role of photography in Egypt.

FAQ #3:  How do you choose which photographers to exhibit/work with? How can I exhibit my work at Tintera?

At TINTERA we are committed to showcasing the work of Egyptian photographers and to photography that has been produced in or inspired by Egypt. We currently show and represent over a dozen photographers and artists; what they all have in common is their commitment to photography as an art. We constantly receive artists with bodies of work that have rarely been seen locally. Many of these artists have established practices we are familiar with while others are from a new generation of practitioners just starting their careers. While we welcome new artists who are keen to have gallery representation we encourage only those who have solid bodies of work and accompanying artist statements to submit their work for consideration. 

FAQ #4: If photographs are multiples and easily reproducible why are their prices sometimes so high?

Today, with the ease of smartphones and digital photography everyone can be considered ‘a photographer’.  But as any experienced art collector or professional photographer will tell you, photography is much more than simply clicking the shutter. When you buy a fine art print you are buying not only the finished object but the time, equipment, process and consideration that went into producing it. When acquiring a fine art print by a contemporary photographer the work will almost always be from a limited edition, meaning that the photographer is committed to only producing a limited number of prints and not allowing the work to be over reproduced. By limiting the versions of a photograph circulating in the art market the artist helps prevent the work’s value from depreciating. Galleries and artists also provide certificates of authenticity with each work stating the details and edition number. This guarantees the work was legitimately produced by the artist. 

Moreover, many artists today choose to create unique works. Works that cannot be reproduced because either the process is unique such as a cyanotype, photogram or collage or the print has been interfered with by another medium or material.

FAQ #5:  What do we do with our family photographs we have at home? Do they have a value even if we no longer know anything about them?

First and foremost we advise you to not throw them away! Let us have a look - please! There is great importance to these photographs even if one is unable to identify the sitters. The photographs themselves, such as albumen prints or cabinet cards or more modern materials, are artefacts and they tell stories that are of great interest to us. They are part of our photographic heritage. Family photographs may provide us evidence of the numerous studios that existed and which have yet to be documented formally. They show the artistry of the photographer as well as the business history and popularity of the studio. They are social documents and are an important key to better understand our cultural heritage.The difficulty in tracing these works from the hundreds of studios across the country is that little remains in the studios - the portraits were sold and live in the homes of their clients and the locations have long since been evacuated. Family photographs also help us to draw connections to places and events that have faded from living memory.

We, at TINTERA, are fortunate to have seen many collections over the years and are able to sometimes connect the dots and solve unknowns. In the more modern Egypt that is closest to us, we find that vernacular, or amateur photographs are also of great value. The images of birthdays and vacations may have lost their immediate relevance but they reveal a huge variety of cultural expressions that run parallel or contradict the dominant narrative. They tell us more of who we are than the official historical record. We strongly encourage and welcome families to come forward and show us their collections no matter how large or small. Not only will they help us to document the little known history of photography in Egypt but they can also give us ideas on how to better preserve this heritage. 

From there, we can advise owners on what to do with them. From identifying their importance and value we can help you to preserve them or find an institution that would be able to host them. We are interested in photographs from the 19th century up until the late 1980s.