How many Ancient Egypt’s exist in the collective memory? One could ask if contemporary Egyptians share the same idea of Ancient Egypt as other cultures have around the world? This tour begins with the video “Egypt: the nearly distant land” curated by Sarah Nagaty − an Egyptian researcher living in Portugal −, followed by a journey into the maze of relationships constituting what Ancient Egypt means nowadays.

In Egypt, the Ancient Egyptian civilization has been shaped in light school curricula, prosperous tourism, Arab nationalism, conservative political discourse, Coptic Christianity, and much more… Whereas in Europe the legacy of the Pharaohs has been influenced by an often fascinated Orientalist gaze, sometimes even egyptomanic. Due to this complex mélange, contemporary Egyptians find themselves between a sense of pride for owning one of the greatest stories of human progress and confusion by the nature of their far away connection to it.

CREDITS

With Sarah Nagaty