Until the first Emirati Expressions, held at Emirates Palace in late 2008, nobody quite knew what the nation’s creatives were capable of. Sure, there had been smaller scale shows, demonstrating a lot of promise from a lot of individuals. But it wasn’t until this group-sized, multimedia extravaganza that the art world’s A-list really began to consider the UAE a force to be reckoned with. Returning next week, the second edition of the show focuses on photography, featuring work from 10 specially selected Emiratis, plus three special guest exhibitors. Kuwaiti-born Palestinian Tarek Al Ghoussein – regionally renowned photographer and professor at the American University of Sharjah – is one of them.
It’s been almost three years since the last Emirati Expressions. How do you think the cultural landscape of the country has changed since then?
There have been a lot of changes. The more events that happen in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the greater the influence on the country’s culture. This show is very different, though, it’s a lot more focused. Last time, the curator came in and selected works that had already been made, from very developed people to the not-so-developed people. It had different mediums too – you had paintings, photography, sculptures, prints. This time around it’s purely photography. This guy Stephen Shore came to the UAE and held a workshop. He looked at the works of lots of Emirati photographers and selected 10 to hold a workshop. And the work that’s going to be exhibited is purely taken from that workshop. So it’s not work that’s been finished. Stephen, [French street artist] JR and myself were also asked to participate in the exhibition.
So should we expect to see a lot of common themes in the work on show?
It’s going to be focused, but there are lots of different types of works, which is great. Everything from studio-style photography to street photography, with a sort of snapshot aesthetic. There’s also Stephen Shore’s pictures of Abu Dhabi and a new project from JR. I’ve also produced a new series of works for the exhibition as well, on Saadiyat.
What’s the series about?
It’s called (In) Beautification. It’s an extension of some previous work of mine – I made a book called In Absentia, and a lot of that work dealt with identity issues. This work is similar but also looks at the landscape, how we construct it, how we try to define ourselves through it, and forge an identity through it. I’ve always been intrigued to look at the line between constructive and so-called documentary photography.
What impact do you expect the show to have? There haven’t been many big exhibitions happening in the city lately…
No, there haven’t. I think it’s the biggest photography show in the Emirates this year, for sure. That’s a great thing – finally now photography is being looked at as a fine art. The pieces in the exhibition are very different to photojournalism, landscape photography, wedding photography. It’s very strong, very focused, conceptually bound work.
What can you tell us about the show’s Emirati participants?
There are 10 Emirati photographers. All are women except for one – it just happened to be like that – and they’re all very talented. Each of them has grown within the period of the workshop, for sure. They have come from very different backgrounds of photography, too – some had a traditional street art aesthetic, while some were very constructive, working in a studio. There’s one girl who doesn’t even use a camera, she uses a scanner.
How does that work? What does her work look like?
I think she’s showing two figures, which she’s scanned in a dark space, so they sort of glow. It’s quite striking.
What advice would you give to aspiring photographers who might be inspired by the show?
I guess the two things that I always tell my students are look at a lot of work – good work, and don’t strive to be too original, so to speak, or force a certain style. I think the most original work comes with time, it’s not something that happens quickly. And you can’t learn in a vacuum – you need to look at a lot of work to grow. There’s a great poet who once said, ‘Influence is essential, but you have to have the strength to chew it up and spit it out.’ I like that, because I think you really have to go through and learn a lot before you can start to find your own voice.
Emirati Expressions, organised by TDIC runs from October 19 until January 28, 2012 at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island. Entry is free.
