From www.lauraeltantawy.comLaura El-Tantawy is an Egyptian photographer living between Cairo and London. She is represented by VII Mentor. She was born in Worcestershire, England to Egyptian parents & grew up between Saudi Arabia & Egypt. In 2002, El-Tantawy started her career as a newspaper photographer with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel & Sarasota Herald-Tribune (USA). In 2006, she became freelance so she could focus on pursuing personal projects. In 2008, she was nominated & accepted as one of 15 young photographers from around the world to participate in Reflexions Masterclass, a two-year photography seminar directed by renowned Italian photographer Giorgia Fiorio and French curator Gabriel Bauret. In 2010, she was awarded a six-month fellowship at the University of Oxford (UK) to write about freedom of expression in Egypt and the role played by Internet of expression in Egypt and the role played by Internet blogging and independent newspapers in pushing the boundaries of free speech in Egypt. In 2005 she started work on her first book exploring the identity and change facing her native Egypt. Her work has been published & exhibited in the United States, Europe, Asia & the Middle East and she has been recognized across several international awards. In 2013, she will be taking part in the 4th edition of the Northern Lights MasterClass, an educational program for documentary photographers powered by the Noorderlicht Foundation in the Netherlands. El-Tantawy is a graduate of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia (USA) with a dual degree journalism and political science.
