The Sultans of Silver at The Empty Quarter

© Omar Alzaabi - Untitled (From the Other Life Series) 

The Sultans of Silver is the latest exhibition at The Empty Quarter which is on till 10th March. The exhibition features fine art black and white photographs, 
inspired by the culture and heritage from the Gulf region.

Here are the photographers included in this exhibition:

Joseph Hoflehner (Austria) an internationally acclaimed photographer known for his black and white landscapes. He has extensively traveled in the Arab region, including Yemen, the Emirates and now Zanzibar, with its many traces as part of the Omani culture, to which it is connected through a shared history.

 © Joseph Hoflehner – Untitled #27 - Zanzibar, Tanzania

© Joseph Hoflehner - Untitled #07 - Zanzibar, Tanzania

Nasser Al Hameli (UAE) is one of the few large format photographers in the UAE. Out of his passion for alternative photography and his love for the photographic print, he has taught himself, among others with the aid of online resources, to make exquisite platinum palladium prints.

© Nasser Alhameli - Alkhatim Scape

Omar Al Zaabi (UAE) has a series called Other Life, all shot in expressive contrasts, revealing a more existential, perhaps darker and rarely glimpsed side of life as experienced in his home country.

© Omar Alzaabi - Untitled (From the Other Life Series)

Sami Nabeel (Jordan) currently lives in London. He writes about Nocturnes, a series strongly influenced by classical music:

The forces of nature are much stronger than the forces deployed by us as individuals. We must understand not to fight these forces, but merge with them to achieve striking results. Having visited a location and made up my mind to photograph, I never look for a photograph. The photograph finds me and says 'I am here, take me', and I say 'yes, I can hear you'. When making my images, I do not allow what use they will have to cloud my mind. I believe that my art should be purposeless; it should not be diminished by serving other agendas. Nocturnes reflect my harmony with nature they are tranquil, expressive, lyrical and evocative.

 © Sami Nabeel - From the Nocturnes Series -Vik, Iceland© Sami Nabeel - From the Nocturnes Series - Skogafoss, Iceland

Exhibition details
Date: On till 10th March, open daily 9am-10pm (Friday 3pm-10pm)
Venue: The Empty Quarter, Gate Village, Bldg 2, DIFC Dubai, UAE 
Phone: +971 4 323 1210

www.theemptyquarter.com
www.josefhoflehner.com
www.nasseralhameli.com
www.omaralzaabi.com
www.lightintheland.com

Idea..Moment..Message by Sameer Al-Jabri

This video by Sameer Al-Jabri features photographers Bader Al Awadi, Omar Al Zaabi and one of my friends, Ammar Al Attar talking about their work and their different approaches to it, from analogue to digital. It also touches upon the art of photography and even though almost everyone is a photographer these days, it takes a while to become an artist.

About this video,

"Photographers in the past used to go through lots of stages to get one photograph. The word 'photographer' couldn’t be given to any one. Nowadays with all the technology that we have, photography has become very effortless. Technology has hit the market with all those digital auto-focus cameras. The word 'photographer' has started to become meaningless since any camera can do the photographer’s job.

My documentary film features some of the best Emirati photographers that have been taking photos for many years. all of them are really innovative and very creative and each have his own style." Sameer Al-Jabri

For the longest time, photography wasn't taken very seriously here, it was always treated as a hobby. But I'm glad to see a change over the past few years, where we have home grown talent pursuing commercial and art photography.


www.wix.com/aljaberi/sfp