Marwan Bassiouni (b. 1985, Switzerland) is a Swiss-Egyptian-American artist and photographer based in Amsterdam. His practice explores questions of representation, faith, identity, and cultural perception through photography, with a particular focus on landscape and contemporary Western societies.
Bassiouni is best known for New Western Views, an ongoing photographic project begun in 2018 that looks at Western landscapes from inside mosques. Working from the fixed viewpoint of prayer rooms, he photographs the view through the mosque window, bringing together the interior space of Islamic worship with the surrounding landscape. The project began in the Netherlands and has since expanded to Switzerland and the United Kingdom, with further chapters underway in North America and elsewhere.
Rather than approaching the mosque as an isolated or unfamiliar space, Bassiouni uses the window as both a vantage point and a connection between Muslim life and the wider societies in which it is situated. Often presented on a large scale, his photographs invite viewers to consider Islam not as something separate from the Western landscape, but as part of it. In contrast to the sensationalist and dramatic imagery through which Muslim communities are often represented in mainstream Western media, Bassiouni’s photographs offer serene, expansive environments largely absent of human figures. Through this deliberate quietness, he creates space for a different kind of encounter with Muslim life—one grounded in presence, contemplation, and the shared experience of place.
Bassiouni’s practice is situated between contemporary art, landscape photography, and socially engaged image-making. His work often deliberately avoids conventional documentary approaches, instead using carefully composed, contemplative photographs to open space for slower and more personal forms of reflection within everyday settings.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the International Center of Photography in New York, Whitechapel Gallery, Foam, Kunsthaus Zürich, and Nederlands Fotomuseum. His photographs are held in international public and private collections.
