Sharjah Art Foundation: Photography Gallery
Sharjah Art Foundation’s Photography Gallery is a new space in a repurposed former telecommunications building in Al Manakh in central Sharjah.
To mark its opening on November 8, there will be two exhibitions, one permanent and one until April 2026. There will also be two talks on the opening night.
Free entry. Location map.
Photographic Encounters Along the Gulf Coasts
Gallery 1
On permanent display, Photographic Encounters Along the Gulf Coasts includes 165 photographs and archival documents from the collection of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Federal Supreme Council of the UAE and Ruler of Sharjah.
Featuring late 19th and early 20th century glass slides depicting people, places and activities along the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean, revealing the region as a vital nexus of trade, culture and human connection.
Busra [sic] creek’,late 19th to early 20th century. Collection of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi
“These images speak in some ways to notions of power, class, gender and ethnicity, signalling the prevailing cultural attitudes of the time.
As the photographer, date and location for each image have not been conclusively established, the exhibition presents the collection as found artefacts. Some of the images have ‘titles’; however, it is unclear who added them and when.
These photographs thus carry history through not only the subjects potrayed but also the multiple layers of reproduction, inscription and interpretation embedded within them.
As the Foundation’s archival research endeavour continues, the photographs in this exhibition will help situate historical narratives of the Arabian Gulf region within global histories.”
Saturday, 8 November, 6:00-6:30 pm
Visual Archives of the Gulf: The Photography Collection of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi
Examining the historical and cultural significance of His Highness’s collection, James Onley (Professor, American University of Sharjah) considers how archival photographs can be interpreted not only as visual records but also as cultural artefacts that reveal the perspectives and narratives of an era.
Image Keepers
Gallery 2 and 3
November 8, 2025 - 26 April, 2026
Image Keepers brings together more than 50 photographic works by 17 artists from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection.
Rula Halawani, The bride is beautiful but she is married to another man series, 2017. Sharjah Art Foundation Collection.
“Presenting works in various formats—from studio portraits to multimedia installations—the exhibition offers a panoramic view of artistic experimentation and engagement through the medium of photography.
The works in the exhibition navigate the sociopolitical terrain of the last six decades against a backdrop of the compressed, and often fissured, processes of modernisation and decolonisation.Image Keepers pays tribute to artists who turn to photography not just to document reality, but to challenge it, reimagine it and hold space for stories that may otherwise disappear.”
Curated by Jiwon Lee, Head of Curatorial, and Nada Ammagui and Osemudiamen Ekore, Curatorial Assistants, with Souraya Kreidieh and Shahd Murshed, Collection Department, Sharjah Art Foundation.
Artists:
Amina Zoubir
Bani Abidi
Basma Al Sharif
Fehras Publishing Practices
Hrair Sarkissian
Kader Attia
Khadija Saye
Latif Al Ani
Mame-Diarra Niang
Mohammed Kazem
Rashid Mahdi
Rika Noguchi
Rula Halawani
Rushdi Anwar
Sunil Gupta
Susan Hefuna
Zineb Sedira
Saturday, 8 November, 6:30-7:30 pm
Mapping Memory: Art, Loss and the Afterlives of History
MUSCICAPIDAE (detail), 2016. Sharjah Art Foundation Collection.
In this panel discussion, Rushdi Anwar, Hrair Sarkissian and Amina Zoubir contemplate how art can reclaim histories fractured by conflict, exile and loss. Engaging with colonial legacies, disappearances and cultural memory across the Middle East and North Africa, they question how images can resist erasure, reimagine belonging and transform personal and collective trauma into spaces of remembrance.
Moderated by Nada Ammagui (Curatorial Assistant, Sharjah Art Foundation)
More details and links to book a free entry ticket via the links below:
https://www.sharjahart.org/en/whats-on/details/photographic-encounters-along-the-gulf-coasts