Witnessing Wales: An interview with Mohamed Hassan

Ben Isaac-Evans

I’m not sure what first drew me to Mohamed Hassan’s work, but I feel a strong affinity to it.  

Born in Egypt but living in Pembrokeshire since 2007, Mohamed Hassan’s journey to be an internationally acclaimed photographer has been a difficult one.

His first photobook, Our Hidden Room, shines light on the start of his journey and a complex relationship between father, mother and son. 

The book won the 2024 Star Photobook Dummy Award and has been gaining a fair amount of attention ever since.

It is a troubled story of mental health issues and a tragic ending for Mohamed’s father. It is also a very personal story, which Mohamed now admits is quite triggering for him to discuss. 

Mohamed portrays a bleak portrayal of his family life in Egypt while he was growing up. While having to look after his father, who was suffering from bipolar disorder and mental health episodes, his mother banned TV and music from the household due to her beliefs and following of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Without giving too much away, Mohamed documents his father’s cruel upbringing and his struggles while working for the Egyptian army from the age of 16.

His father found solace in the shape of a camera and used his passion for it to take photos of fellow military personnel. He eventually started his own photography business after being kicked out of the army on mental health grounds.

Sadly, Mohamed’s father took his own life. Mohamed’s mother decided to burn all evidence of her husband’s work along with the negatives due to her beliefs, leaving Mohamed and family members with only a handful of photos of him.

On the Nearest Truth podcast, Brad Feuerhelm stated that: “Our Hidden Room feels like something of a confessional. It is a deep personal exploration into Mohamed’s youth and his family, particularly his father, who met a tragic end that Mohamed bravely revisits in his visits back to Egypt from his new home in Wales, returning to excavate and sort through his memories of his father, mother, and brother, looking for clues, answers, and affirmations.

“The result is a book marked by a subtle melancholia and exceptionally potent photographs of Alexandria, as well as of Mohamed’s friends and the Egyptian landscape, interspersed with a few pictures from Wales. The book is beautiful and dynamic.”

Mohamed graduated with a 1st class honours degree in Photography from Carmarthen School of Art in 2016 and completed a Master’s in Documentary Photography with Distinction at the University of South Wales, Cardiff in 2023.

He has had a busy few years since then winning awards and competitions for his work while also having his work exhibited across Wales and Europe.

Mohamed is currently working on a new photobook in his new home country, called Witnessing Wales.

I caught up with him to ask him a few questions.

What brought you to Wales, Mohamed?

“Well my wife is half Welsh, half English but we used to live in Egypt for a while.

“I was back and forth between Wales and Egypt for a while but after moving to Wales, I started off working in places like McDonalds, security jobs and Lidl.

“I got a chemical engineering degree in Egypt but I didn’t enjoy it really. I don’t like the smell of chemicals. My family pushed me to do it. It wasn’t my scene.”

You have a great photo of mountains from Egypt during blue hour as your cover for the book. How do the mountains in Wales compare?

“I think I’ve done them all. The main ones.

“Wales is very beautiful. The green and blue sky. In Egypt it’s very gritty and the heat and sun is too strong.

“Because of the light there you have to shoot at a different aperture.”

I couldn’t help but think that your story in this book would be an amazing film. Has anyone mentioned that to you?

“My younger brother is a script writer and is mad about movies. He watches all kind of films but he’s really against what I’m doing so we’ve had some arguing about it.

“He’s very religious and he doesn’t want my dad’s story to be exposed.

“I’d like to do a film. I’ve got a lot of ideas.

“I want to start making some short movies.

“I’ll try to experiment and do it in future.”

It must have been hard to make this book?

“The last few years I’ve suffered badly with depression and anxiety but I found taking pictures enables me to stay calm. It was kind of therapeutic to me to make this book.

“I feel like a different person when I’m not taking photos.

“I walk for miles and listen to classical music.

“I don’t go out to take the perfect picture.

“I just go out to document what I see.”

How is your Witnessing Wales project coming along?

“I love this country. Its people. The Landscape. It’s home now for me.

“I love photographing Wales. I’ve been documenting it for the past 5 years and I’m hoping to have a book publication in the near future.

“I’m just looking for a publisher now.

“I may do a Kickstarter to fund it.”

What made you change from colour to black and white on this project?

“In 2019 I was working in colour and out making some work when I met David Hurn who is a well known photographer. Probably the most famous Welsh photographer.

“He’s a Magnum photographer who’s photographed the Beatles and Sean Connery. He’s also documented Wales for years.

“I was in the middle of nowhere but I knew how he looked so I approached him. I said, ‘are you David Hurn’ and he said ‘yes’. I said I loved his work and we started talking. I looked at his book, Wales Land of my Father after that which is incredible.

“He’s been everywhere in Wales. So I decided to do something similar and switched to black and white. That’s how it started.

“I’m meeting him this week and we’re going to see a talk at the Martin Parr foundation.”

What other projects are you working on? I know you’re very busy.

“Well, I have a small photobook coming out in May. It’s published by an Egyptian American man. It’s a project from a train ride I took in Egypt from Alexandria to Cairo.

“There will be 100 copies. Its release coincides with the ICP photobook festival in New York which is on the 8th-10th of May.”

“I might go to north Wales soon and shoot some more photos for my Witnessing Wales project, although I have 3,000 images already.”

Success

After our interview I manage to spot kind words by David Hurn about Mohamed on one of his instagram posts where he states that he finds Mohamed’s work interesting and expects him to do well.

It’s a ringing endorsement from one of Wales most well known photographers.

Mohamed was commissioned by the Government Art Collection for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in 2023. His work features along with other photographers and artists at The National Archives, Kew, London until 12 August 2026.

He was also shortlisted at the prestigious Paris Photo festival in 2025 as being one of the top then photobooks.

With festivals coming up in Paris, Italy, Basque country and Cornwall, Mohamed has a busy few months ahead, and I look forward to seeing where his career takes him.

He’s an incredible talent.

Cymru is lucky to have him.

Mohamed Hassan’s book Our Hidden Room is available to buy on his site here.