I have been working with my mate Bernard on a photo-essay on Defence Colony since October last year. In Jan this year, Bernard submitted our photo essay to be presented in the Gulf Photoplus SlideFest scheduled for February.
For those not familiar with Slidefest, GPP’s website describes it as follows:
“At GPP, we care about promoting and developing the art and science of photography as a medium of creative expression by informing, educating and inspiring people across the Middle East and North Africa through photography workshops, exhibitions and initiatives. We host GPP Slidefest as a quarterly event showcasing the personal projects of primarily locally and based photographers from pro photographers to stand out GPP students.
From humble beginnings, with fifty people squeezed into our small office on beanbags, we now host Slidefest quarterly at the Knowledge Village Auditorium and have more than 350 attendees every time. Each Slidefest, 6-9 artists show a personal project followed by a quick Q&A. From poignant documentary work, to unique portraits or conceptual fine art projects, GPP Slidefest always caters to a variety of tastes and interests with presenters who come from all walks of life and all areas of the industry.”
So obviously, I was thrilled and completely freaked out at the same time. Speaking for myself only (I think Bernard has more experience in this kind of thing, although I also think he will agree with me, more or less :) ), this was the first serious photo-essay that I had worked on and while we had invested a lot of time and effort into putting it together, I still didn’t have the confidence to think that it put be of interest to many. The team at GPP was extremely supportive and not only gave us invaluable advice on how to put the story together but also promoted the story with wonderful enthusiasm. Imagine my surprise then when I was contacted by a local magazine who had heard about the project from GPP and were keen to highlight in their upcoming weekly issue. The article below will give you a sense of what we led us to document this colony.
On the day of presentation, Feb 18th, both Bernard and I were very nervous but the GPP team (Mo and Miranda, in particular) kept us calm and we got through the presentation; It went well, we thought. We had an active Q&A session after the presentation and a number of people came up both to Bernard and myself and gave us positive feedback.
It was a proud moment.
A bit more about the project itself:
Defence Colony was established in early 70s, next to a large military camp in Dubai, primarily for the UAE’s military families. During Dubai’s earlier rapid urbanization, the camp was moved but the community itself was left relatively untouched.
As is the case of many high growth cities, city centers become prime property. Defence Colony, once “situated well outside the old city limits” is now almost in the center of Dubai’s thriving metropolis and has therefore become the focus of the city’s continued expansion plans.
We were able to spend a considerable amount of time documenting the changes in the colony, meeting with the colony inhabitants and recording not only some of the community life but also the process around the dismantlement of the colony prior to it’s transformation to a more modern and contemporary landscape.
We hope you enjoy and we would really appreciate any “constructive” feedback or advice.
The link to the final photoessay is transformation