Our Hidden Room

Mohamed Hassan

2024 — Egypt

About this series

Our Hidden Room tells the fragmented story of the complex but loving relationship between the author and his father, also a photographer. During the author’s youth in Egypt, his father often behaved erratically and reclusively, becoming increasingly obsessed with a small, dark hidden room in the family home. His father suffered from bipolar disorder and, at a time when mental health issues were not widely understood, this ultimately led to his suicide.

Photographer: Mohamed Hassan
Nationality: Egyptian
Based in: England
Website: www.mohamedhassanphotography.com
Instagram: @mohamedhassanphoto_

Mohamed Hassan was born in 1984 in Alexandria, Egypt. He first moved to Wales in 2007. He studied photography at Carmarthen School of Art (2016), prior to completing a master’s in Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales (2023). In recent years, Hassan’s work has been included in several prestigious group exhibitions, including: ‘Facing Britain: British documentary photography since the 1960s’ curated by Ralph Goertz (multiple venues across Europe, 2021-2023),‘Many Voices, One Nation’, curated by Ffotogallery and the Senedd (multiple venues across Wales, 2019-2020), and The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize (National Portrait Gallery, 2018). His work has also recently been acquired by collections including the National Museum of Wales and the Government Art Collection.