‍ ‍Image: Longing for Belonging, Nayra Aly

Nayra Aly, Longing for Belonging

Longing for Belonging is a deeply personal memoir that traces a journey across continents, generations, and identities in search of home. Blending storytelling, photography, and design, Nayra Aly explores displacement, family, racism, healing, and the universal desire to belong. Born in Alexandria and raised between cultures, Aly revisits memories traversing Egypt, Italy, the United States, and Sweden, culminating in a return to Egypt where the search for belonging becomes a path towards forgiveness and self-acceptance. Designed as a bilingual book in English and Arabic, two reading directions converge in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation and return.

Date: 4 February - 21 March 2027

Finnish Museum of Photography
The Cable Factory
Kaapeliaukio 3
00180 Helsinki

  • Nayra Aly

    Nayra Aly is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and creator whose work spans a wide range of mediums and forms of expression. Rooted in personal experience, her practice explores themes of identity, belonging, mental health and displacement. Based in Stockholm since 2011, she began her career creating evocative works in charcoal and oil paint applied solely with her fingers. Drawn to the idea of world-building, Nayra never saw herself confined to a single medium. She soon expanded into the fields of photography and design, earning a BA from Beckmans College of Design. Today she is an emerging creative voice, with acclaimed projects recognized by leading institutions.