Slidefest XI - 30th October 2013
© Ebrahim Mirmalek
The eleventh edition of Slidefest organised by Gulf Photo Plus is on this Wednesday, 30th October at 7pm in the Knowledge Village Auditorium. Slidefest started in 2009 and it's so great to see that it will celebrate 10 editions this week. Over the past few years, Slidefest has been a showcase of some very good photography projects, most of it from the region.
If you are new to Slidefest, it's an event organised by Gulf Photo Plus where photographers present their personal projects, from documentary projects to fine art, still-life and landscape images. The event also aims to bring photographers (amateurs and pros) and people from the photography community together where people can network, connect and share stories.
Here's the line up of photographers:
Ammar Al Attar
© Ammar Al Attar
Born in Dubai, Ammar Al Attar has a Masters degree in International Business, however his passion for photography has resulted in numerous photo exhibitions of his work both locally and internationally. A veteran to GPP Slidefest, Ammar will be showing his latest photography project 'Water' from 2013. Ever so quickly becoming a scarce commodity, access to clean drinking water has become worldwide a topic of concern. Ammar's interest was peaked by the common practice in the UAE to offer free water to the public, often situated in busy public areas.
Antonie Robertson
© Antonie Robertson
Antonie Robertson is a commercial photographer and visual story teller based in Dubai. Originally from Cape Town he has been living abroad covering a wide range of assignments and genres for the last ten years.
His latest project aims to produce the first contemporary collection of tintype portraits of the UAE by employing a 150 year-old technique to capture the multitude of nationalities that call it home.
The Tintype process is the photographic creation of a positive image on a metal plate. Antonie will be sharing his portrait series as well as further insight regarding the process.
I recently shared an interview I had with Antonie Robertson. You can read it here.
Ebrahim Mirmalek
© Ebrahim Mirmalek
Ebrahim Mirmalek (born in US in 1981) grew up in San Jose, his family moved to Iran after the Iran/Iraq war in 1989. Pursuing photography as a serious passion after he moved to Dubai in 2008, Ebrahim also worked as a video editor on numerous documentaries.
In 2011 he traveled to Tanzania, inspired by the Albino community he began shooting portraits with a film camera. Often victims of violence and discrimination owing to negative superstitious beliefs surrounding the skin disorder, Ebrahim aimed to capture theoptimism among the people he portrayed; a key to overcoming the hardships of being 'different'.
Hilmi Al-Kindy
© Hilmi Al-Kindy
Hilmi Al-Kindy graduated with a Diploma in information technology in 1998 and worked in the IT industry till 2003 when he switched career paths to get into Oil & Gas industry and drilling. At that time working late shifts at night spurred his interest in the night sky.
It wasn't until he received helpful guidance on how toapproachastrophotography that he finally felt he was capturing the images he had aimed for. Hilmi will share images of the night sky as well as further insight regarding the gear and techniques required for this type of photography.
Lee Hoagland
© Lee Hoagland
Lee Hoagland is a Dubai based photographer currently working on projects throughout the Middle East. He has collaborated with a variety of publications, NGO's, and companies. His work has been exhibited internationally and received numerous awards.
The project Lee is presenting was photographed at Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF) reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman, Jordan. Too often victims of the Iraq war-and any other war-are photographed as objects rather than people.
These portraits try to re-calibrate the way we look at victims while still reminding the viewer of the chilling violence which occurs regularly in Iraq, despite the conflict being "over".
Matthew Dols
© Matthew Dols
Matthew Dols is an Assistant Professor of New Media in the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises at Zayed University. He has his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art and Design.
His artwork has been exhibited internationally and is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Crown Point Press, and the Auchenbach Collection, Palace of Fine Arts.
Matthew will be presenting a series of images from a book he collaborated on titled "20 Days over 20 Years" reflecting a relationship that consisted of 20 face-to-face meetings over the course of 20 years.
Ruksana Hussain
© Ruksana Hussain
Ruksana Hussain moved to Dubai in 2011 to start a new life and discovered photography while travelling. A vivid memory from her childhood in Bangladesh involved the excitement that came with the journey she and her brothers would take to pick up her father at the airport, passing gigantic ships along the coast.
It was only as an adult that she came upon a once-scenic coastal strip of a beach about 15-20 kms long, now home to one of the biggest ship-breaking yards in the world. Ruksana began documenting this massive graveyard for decommissioned ships and tankers, and the people who dismantle them.
Event details:
Date: Wednesday, 30th October, doors open at 7pm, Slidefest begins at 7.30pm.
Location: Knowledge Village Auditorium, Dubai (location map)
Free entry.