Studio Artist
Amanda Kerdahi is a multidisciplinary artist working with sound, video, installation, and performance to examine object-based visual culture through the lens of a queer Egyptian-American perspective. Her work explores the tensions between coveted and discarded possessions, drawing parallels to personal relationships while serving as metaphors for migration and visibility.
Kerdahi exhibits internationally in places such as Raw Material (Dakar, Senegal), Contemporary Image Collective (Cairo, Egypt), and Queer Lisboa Film Festival (Lisbon, Portugal). She received a grant from The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture for Filtered Conversations at Round Table in 2014 and, as part of eo Studio, is a Creative Capital Awardee for Tankugbe Incubation Lab in 2023. In 2018, she co-curated Topophilia, a video art exhibition with 16 international artists in an abandoned farmhouse in Nees, Denmark. She co-founded Benefsigy Studio, a 5 room art space in downtown Cairo. Additionally, she co-organized Pop Up on the Nile, a series of women-centered dance parties on feluccas, which are popular motorboats on the Nile, and served as resident DJ. These vibrant events featured an eclectic mix of music deeply rooted in diaspora and encompassing multiple languages.
Kerdahi received a BFA in Digital Media, a BS in Psychology from the University of Houston and an MFA from the University of Plymouth, UK.
Images from left: Photo of Amanda Kerdahi courtesy of the artist; 100 Conversations (installation views), tobacco stained cotton fabric, digital print, soundless looping video, dimensions variable, 2014; Filtered Conversation at Roundtable (installation view), glass cups with residue, b&w print, dimensions variable, 2016; TBD (collection), greenware slip-cast, dimensions variable, 2025.