Mariam Ashraf is a visual storyteller and documentary photographer from Damietta, Egypt. She graduated in applied arts and began her journey with photography in 2018 before moving into documentary and street photography, with a particular focus on marginalized stories, the visual memory of cities and unheard voices. In 2022, she participated in a documentary and photojournalism grant with VII Academy in France. She sees photography not just as an art or a profession, but as a bridge to connect with the world; a means of self-expression and of preserving memories and identities from extinction, which drives her to focus on human stories rooted in place.