Egyptian visual storyteller Sara Younes redefines the boundaries of photography with At a Peter Pan Moment, a project that interweaves movement, resistance, and experimental visual storytelling. This body of work follows the Parkour community in Alexandria, where athletes like Danny reclaim public spaces through physical expression.
“For Danny and other players in the parkour community in Alexandria, the free movement of their bodies in public space becomes a form of resistance. Jumping and flipping at tram stations, the corniche, and around the streets—the repeated, similar and exhausting performances of daily city life surrender to the freedom and simplicity of nature.” – Sara Younes.
Through photography, voice recordings, hand drawings, and augmented reality, Younes disrupts the constraints of classical documentary forms. Her layered approach mirrors the act of parkour itself: a creative navigation of barriers.
The series not only documents but actively engages the viewer, breaking the static frame of the photograph through digital interventions. Collages and hand-drawn elements spill out of the image, highlighting the dynamism of movement and the transient nature of resistance. Younes' decision to incorporate Instagram filters transforms photography into an interactive medium, inviting the audience to participate rather than passively observe.
The city of Alexandria, with its weathered architecture and rigid urban planning, becomes both obstacle and stage. The worn-out surfaces—marble, cement, and crumbling brick—serve as metaphors for structural limitations, while the parkour athletes’ fluidity embodies defiance. The very essence of their practice disrupts the expectations of how bodies should move within public space, echoing broader struggles against societal restrictions.
Younes’ work questions the ownership of urban space. Who has the right to move freely? How do personal and political constraints manifest in the built environment? And what does it mean to fly—even if only for a fleeting moment—before returning to land? In the world of ‘At a Peter Pan Moment’, the act of jumping is more than an athletic feat; it is a radical assertion of agency, a refusal to be confined.
With this project, Sara Younes not only captures motion but embodies it within her creative process. She extends the photographic frame into the realm of interaction, ensuring that her work, much like parkour itself, remains in a state of continuous movement.
Sara participated in Printed Visions: A Photobook Workshop for African Photographers, which ran throughout November and December 2024. The workshop was a collaboration between No! Wahala Magazine and Artphilein.Find out more about Sara Younes’ work.
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