The Sultan Foundation, Ma’qad Sultan Qaitbey, and ARCHiNOS Architecture are delighted to present a solo exhibition by David Degner.

Degner is a photographer from Georgia, USA, who has been based in Egypt since 2010 and has worked extensively throughout the Middle East. His photojournalistic work has been published by dozens of renowned outlets and is represented by Getty Reportage. In addition to his many assignments, Degner also worked steadily on a personal project. 

While traveling throughout Egypt, Degner often heard about miracles and that they come in many forms: miracles that are written about in newspapers, for example, or miracles that are only discussed confidentially. His pursuit of these stories lead him to nearly every part of the country: from cities to villages, from mountains to valleys, from deserts to seas. He diligently tracked even the faintest whisper of a miracle story to its source and sought to understand people’s individual experiences and the apparent purpose of these miracles. 

"Modern Miracles" is rooted in a relentless question that dated back to Degner’s days as a student of philosophy and evolved into an attempt to photograph the places where the material and the immaterial meet. Today the project comprises an extensive collection of images depicting miracles in Egypt not as something rare and abstract, but as everyday occurrences. This solo exhibition is a result of his personal project that has been five years in the making. 

"Modern Miracles" is now exhibited in the Eastern Cemetery (also known as the Desert of the Mamluks) within the ‘City of the Dead’ at the recently-restored 15th-century maq‘ad of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey. This is the first time that selected work from Degner’s self-assigned project is shown publicly.

The exhibition venue is the only surviving section of a palace that once-sultan of Egypt, Sultan Qaitbey, built in 1474 as part of the vast complex constructed in the cemetery around his mausoleum. In a city with opulent history at every turn, this recently-restored Ma’qad of Sultan al-Sharaf Qaitbey is still considered one of the most valuable and significant landmarks of Cairo and is listed as a historic monument. It was built in the architectural style of the late Mamlouk period and has a long history of restorations, yet it was ARCHiNOS Architecture who ultimately planned, documented, and completed the recent conservation of the 15th-century building in 2016, since turning it into a cultural hub that serves both the local community and a broader public.

"Modern Miracles" is curated by Alexandra Stock and has been made possible with the generous support of the Sultan Foundation, Agnieszka Dobrowolska, Shadi Momtaz, and George Seif. 

For general information and press: modernmiraclescairo@gmail.com
For directions to the exhibition venue contact: (+2)01226569944
For more information about David Degner and Modern Miracles:www.daviddegner.com/miracles