Youssef ElNahas

Finding Thomas Bartlett is a publication that blends fiction and historical fact to create a constructed narrative and life story for Thomas Bartlett, a 19th-century Scottish railway engineer who immigrated to Egypt and settled there, and who is the artist’s direct ancestor. It draws on recent practice involving family archives and documentary photography, complemented by the use of text and historical documents. The work examines themes of identity and migration, which are highly relevant to the current social and political climate. It seeks to address the question of whether national identity is fixed and inherited or constructed on an individual level.