Miguel Angel Sánchez — Alma del Mondo — Les révoltés du Caire — Inception Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: February 2 → March 10, 2012

The artist has gathered over a hundred portraits of Cairo inhabitants who were all involved in what we called the Arab Spring.

People from different social and cultural backgrounds: musician, blogger, painter, political activist, minister, grocer, or even shoe shiner… This portrait of the city through its inhabitants appears like a real historical snapshot.

Miguel Angel Sanchez’s aim is to capture moments in the life of the people he meets over his trips : he particularly likes to photography people in the street, after having shared a moment with them. As an advertisement photographer in Madrid, he decided to years ago to move to Cairo where he began a new and more personal work in his own studio.

Miguel Angel Sanchez was born in Madrid in 1977. He graduated in sculpture and was rewarded by the Madrid Community for his photographic documentary work.

His work focuses on light in order to recreate a chiaroscuro similar to that of the Italian and Spanish paintings of the 17th century by Ribera or Caravaggio. He reuses the codes of this ancestral tradition, he sometimes works several days before achieving the final shooting. By choosing a long creation process, the artist seeks to experience what painters used to feel.

In his pictures, the sharp contrast between dark and light areas intensifies the dramatic tension and puts the character in relief : it also brings outs warmth and a sensation of closeness between the portrayed person and the viewer.