This project, "The Tour" began years ago, around maybe 2005-2006.  It is somewhat of an historical-revisionist take on the concept of the "Grand Tour" that the European elite embarked on in the 17th-19th centuries, touring Rome, Istanbul, Cairo, etc.  Here, I have placed historical characters from vernacular Egyptian, Arab and the cosmopolitan resident foreign community images into my photographs, thus constructing a new reality.  The works range in date from 1850s - 2012.  I purposely have left off the locations from my titles, and instead place all emphasis on the content and figurative elements of the constructed photographs.  The works tend to upend all expectations of the viewer.  Indeed, photography is not what it used to be.  Some cannot quite make out whether it is an archival photograph, if it was a double exposure, and many other interesting questions, that invite participation of the audience to figure it out.  The places range from Algiers, Cairo, Damascus, Antakya, Thessaloniki, Doha, to Leptis Magna, to Tunis and more. 

Barry Iverson