Ali Zaraay

Ali Zaraay (b. 1994) is an Egyptian documentary photographer based in Cairo who works in photography. His subjects are urban change, demolition, construction and displacement. His 2026 solo show includes small colour photographs, 10 x 15 cm to 20 x 15 cm. They show a donkey, a goat and a woman framed by floral fabric.

He was a press photographer for Egyptian newspapers from 2012 to 2016. Since 2015 his long-term project Crawling on the Dust has followed the nomadic Bedouins of Egypt. It centres on his friend Haj Hani and one family across generations in the Nile Delta. Urban expansion has blocked the family's movement. In a Bedouin saying, "crawling on dust" means being always on the move.

He graduated in documentary and photojournalism from Hochschule Hannover in 2020. From 2021 to 2022 he studied liberal arts at CILAS (Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences). He was resident at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris, in 2023. In 2024 he received an Arab Documentary Photography Program grant, run by AFAC and the Prince Claus Fund with the Magnum Foundation. The same year he joined the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. He was runner-up for Foam Talent in 2026. Crawling on the Dust is his 2026 solo exhibition at Ubuntu Art Gallery, Cairo.