Warriors
These warriors aren’t ancient, neither they do war.
Yes, they might have the strength from their past but they stare deeply into each other eyes. Kids that are being put to test and taught how to fight for their lives.
These moments were captured in Bangkok, in January 2016, at the Lumpinee stadium where every week young fighters confront each other on the ring, with the enthusiastic support of their families, team and a crowd of avid for gamblers. The screams don't bother them, they have much more than money at stake.
Warriors
These warriors aren’t ancient, neither they do war.
Yes, they might have the strength from their past but they stare deeply into each other eyes. Kids that are being put to test and taught how to fight for their lives.
These moments were captured in Bangkok, in January 2016, at the Lumpinee stadium where every week young fighters confront each other on the ring, with the enthusiastic support of their families, team and a crowd of avid for gamblers. The screams don't bother them, they have much more than money at stake.
Warriors
These warriors aren’t ancient, neither they do war.
Yes, they might have the strength from their past but they stare deeply into each other eyes. Kids that are being put to test and taught how to fight for their lives.
These moments were captured in Bangkok, in January 2016, at the Lumpinee stadium where every week young fighters confront each other on the ring, with the enthusiastic support of their families, team and a crowd of avid for gamblers. The screams don't bother them, they have much more than money at stake.

Yxng Cairo

Cairo and his mother, 43, at their house in Dulwich Hill, where the family lived for 15 years before being relocated by Australian social services to Glebe in 2018. Cairo’s mother - Adeeng - is also known as Sunshine, the meaning of her name in her mother language.

Sunday morning, Cairo is sleeping away after a party at his house the night before.

Yxng Cairo
Young Cairo
Judgment comes easy, but sometimes life doesn’t. Taking a stance on quick opinions before trying to understand is a default that comes from the separation and lack of communication between different paths of life, different backgrounds, different futures. But it is precisely the future that can change if we slow down on our judgments and honour the truly rich and remarkable multicultural country we are.
Young Cairo is a social documentary series, set in Sydney's Inner West, that looks at the daily life of “Cairo”, a 21-year-old South Sudanese hip-hop artist that, just like everyone else, is immersed in the hustling of daily life, trying his best to be a son, a brother, an uncle, an adult and a professional musician.
A look at a world where family and social role models precipitate over each other in a social background that acts as a magnifying glass, revealing the conflicts that teenagers and young adults face nowadays, in all the different shades of us.
Cairo was born in Egypt, after his family flew from the war in South Sudan and landed in Australia one year later, in 1999, as a refugee. Leaving behind half of his siblings that he didn't have a chance to meet ever again.
Nowadays, Australia accepts a very limited number of refugees and has detention centres in the Pacific islands, such as Nauru and Manus. These policies have left very latently the division between society and some ethnic minorities and accentuating the difference between social classes. These new generations that Cairo is part of, are already made of Australian citizens and the integration is a very delicate and complex subject to be deconstructed in a simplified way.
Cairo was recently detained is awaiting a court audience to know about his future. Even at a very young age, he is the stronger male figure in his family, that waits impatiently by his return home to reestablish some balance in the family life.
EXHIBITIONS
Dec 2020 Young Cairo
Addis Foto Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Sep 2020 Young Cairo
International Festival of Photography of Porto Alegre, Brazil
Nov 2019 Young Cairo
Sun Studios Emerging Photographer Award, Melbourne, Australia
Sep 2019 Young Cairo
Sun Studios Emerging Photographer Award, Sydney, Australia
Sep 2019 Young Cairo
Paraty Em Foco International Festival, Paraty, Brazil
Jul 2019 Young Cairo
Helsinki Photo Festival HELPHOTO, Helsinki, Finland
Jul 2019 Young Cairo
Les Rencontres De La Photographie BYOB, Arles 2019, France
May 2019 Young Cairo
HeadOn Photo Festival, Contact Sheet Gallery, Sydney, Australia
AWARDS
Set 2019 Young Cairo
Highly Commended, Sun Studios Emerging Photographer Award, Australia
Jul 2019 Young Cairo
Winner Open Call. Helsinki Photo Festival HELPHOTO, Helsinki, Finland
Jul 2019 Young Cairo - A young South-Sudanese living in Sydney's inner west.
Winner Best Image. Helsinki Photo Festival HELPHOTO, Helsinki, Finland
May 2019 Young Cairo - A young South-Sudanese living in Sydney's inner west
Semi-finalist Portrait Award, HeadOn Photo Festival
May 2019 Young Cairo
Capture Magazine Top 11 Australasia Emerging photographers 2019 - Documentary/Photojournalism
PUBLICATIONS
Apr 2020 Young Cairo
Published in www.featureshoot.com
Oct 2019 Young Cairo
Interview published by Sun Studios.
Sep 2019 Young Cairo
The Guardian, Next generation: Australia's emerging photographer awards – in pictures
Sep 2019 Young Cairo
Jun 2019 Young Cairo
Social Documentary Network
May 2019 Young Cairo
Capture Magazine, Featured as one of Australasia Emerging Photographers 2019