Palm Beach
Agami, Cambridge, 2022-ongoing
Palm Beach is a tacky coastal tourist beach on the outskirts of Alexandria in Agami. In the 1930s, Agami was developed as an elite and exclusive development on the beach by Swiss and Italian entrepreneurs. Before this, Agami was a Bedouin enclave, best known as the site for hosting a moulid (Sufi festival) in honor of the Bedouin Sufi saint Agami, whose tomb was bombarded during World War II. After the war, the elites who had developed it for tourism abandoned the area, though the Bedouin presence likely remained. Eventually, exclusive tourism returned. In the late 1990s, the State ignored demands to develop local infrastructure such as providing access to sewage or improving roads, focusing instead on industrial development, such as steel production near the port. At the time, the only major infrastructure development was the improvement of public transportation, primarily to accommodate workers, which altered the area's demographic composition. In response, elites from Cairo and Alexandria began leaving for gated communities further West on the Mediterranean, seeking more controlled environments that allowed for social segregation and offered access to cleaner, clearer waters. Since then, Agami’s beaches, including Palm Beach, have become more open to a lower and middle-class demographic. Divestment has led to deteriorating facilities at the beach, with an absence of basic amenities like showers and lifeguard services. Now, the future of Palm Beach is uncertain, as it faces the possibility of being shut down due to a significant increase in drowning incidents.
In this short work-in-progress I document different uses of Palm Beach through the span of a day, from those flying their kites, to those stacking the plastic chairs that make the space occupiable, to those using it to meet and escape social restrictions in the nighttime. Through moving image portraits, I offer a glimpse into the awkwardness and exposure of people as they interact with the camera, highlighting the uneasy balance between observation, power, and self-presentation. This footage also touches on the gender dynamics at play as shown between me as a filmmaker and my male subjects who engage in catcalling on camera. In contrast, female subjects reveal themselves in vulnerable and intimate ways. In one segment, a queer couple share with me moments of closeness and their experiences of dealing with masculine menace on the beach.