Photographic Encounters along the Gulf Coasts

Comprising 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 United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah, this exhibition serves as a starting point for research into how photography translates and interprets history. 

The late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century images—glass slides made from photographs of people, places and activities along the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean littorals—engage with the region as a nexus of trade and connection, reflecting on how Gulf waterways and coastal areas have facilitated human connection, shaped global trade and fostered exchanges of knowledge, culture and language. These images also 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, this exhibition presents the collection as found artefacts. Some of the images have 'titles'; however, it is not clear who added them and when. Associations between texts and images may change as they circulate through time and space. These photographs thus carry history through not only the subjects portrayed but also the multiple layers of reproduction, inscription and interpretation embedded in them.   

The exhibition also centres photography as a medium. The glass slides on which the images were reproduced as well as the magic lantern, considered a predecessor to modern slide projectors, offer insight into photographic innovations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

As our archival research endeavour continues, the photographs in this exhibition will help situate historical narratives of the Arabian Gulf region within global histories, shining a light on colonial and postcolonial modes of knowledge production and dissemination.

This collection is on permanent display at the Photography Gallery.