In Context.

Investigating notions of home and belonging, she approaches her work through a social and environmental lens shaped by her transatlantic background. Her visual explorations often weave still images with moving image, sound and personal narrative, guided by a lyrical eye on reality.

Laura is an award-winning British/Egyptian documentary photographer, bookmaker and educator. Born in Ronkswood, Worcestershire, to Egyptian parents, she studied in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the US and the UK. Living between East and West throughout her life has profoundly influenced her artistic journey, creating a rich cultural terrain for her work.

She began her career as a newspaper photographer in the United States, turning freelance in 2005 and moving to Cairo to begin what became her seminal body of work In the Shadow of the Pyramids.

Laura is the first Egyptian to receive the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Award. In 2016, she was nominated for and exhibited as part of the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. She is also a recipient of the Prix Virginia and PhMuseum awards.

Her work has been widely exhibited internationally and featured in The New Yorker, Afar, Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, TIME, The New York Times, Huck and Foam.

Laura is the Founder and Creative Director of PLATFORM 2020, an online home for documentary photography education, with a focus on Africa and the Middle East, built to bring world-class learning closer through community, rigour and access.

Embracing her identity as an independent visual creative, she values the freedom to explore and challenge traditional boundaries. Through socially engaged, thought-provoking narratives, she aims to question perception and invite transformative ways of seeing, often collaborating with individuals, institutions and organisations committed to responsible storytelling and positive social change.