She investigates the European influences on the region.
Photographer Farah Al-Qasimi might be a New Yorker, but the Emirati photographer is extremely proud of her background and showcases that through her work.
Based between the Big Apple and Dubai, Al-Qasimi has been gaining momentum and will stage her first solo exhibition at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 30.
The 28-year-old Yale graduate will present some of her most recent photographs as well as a new film titled “Um Al Naar (Mother of Fire)” that made it’s debut at Art Basel. The 40-minute feature follows a ghostly character, or jinn, that narrates how the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah was influenced by British and Portuguese colonialist regimes, as well as other European influences on the region.
She mainly works with colourful photography capturing Emirati domestic scenes on an editorial level, but with unspoken layers of subtext. “I’ve always been interested in the history of interior décor and taste in the gulf, and what it represents,” she told the .
Want to see more of her work? Al-Qasimi will stage her next solo show at The Third Line gallery in Dubai on September 18.
