Photographic Encounters along the Gulf Coasts is a permanent exhibition at the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) that brings together a remarkable constellation of historical images tracing the visual and cultural memory of the Arabian Gulf and its wider maritime networks. Installed in the Foundation’s Photography Gallery in Al Manakh, the display features 165 photos and archival documents from the collection of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi and offers a rare and layered perspective on the region’s past.
The exhibited works span the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They are presented as glass slides, objects that are as significant as the images they carry. Depicting people, landscapes, and everyday activities along the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean littorals, these photographs reveal the region as a dynamic nexus of trade, mobility, and cultural exchange. The coastal environment emerges as an active agent shaping connections between communities, economies, and geographies.
Crucially, the exhibition foregrounds the instability of photographic meaning. With many images lacking confirmed authorship, dates, or locations, they are “found” artefacts: fragments of history that resist fixed interpretation. Titles appear inconsistently, their origins uncertain, underscoring how images accrue shifting layers of context as they circulate through time. In this way, the show invites one to consider photography not as a transparent record, but as a medium entangled with processes of translation, mediation and power.
Themes of class, gender, ethnicity, and colonial encounter surface subtly across the images. They point to the ideological frameworks through which the Gulf was historically viewed and represented. At the same time, the display of early projection technologies, such as the magic lantern, situates these photos within a broader history of visual dissemination, emphasising how technological innovation shaped the production and reception of knowledge.
Photographic Encounters functions as an open-ended research platform. By situating archival material within a contemporary curatorial framework, the exhibition connects local histories to global trajectories and illuminates how the Gulf has long been embedded in transnational networks of exchange. In doing so, it positions photography as both a witness to history and an active participant in its construction.
About SAF
The Sharjah Art Foundation is one of the most influential cultural institutions in the Middle East, dedicated to supporting contemporary art, research, education, and community engagement. Founded in 2009 under the leadership of Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, the foundation operates across a network of galleries, heritage buildings, public spaces, and purpose-built venues throughout Sharjah’s historic districts.
Through its extensive programme of exhibitions, artist commissions, residencies, performances, film screenings, publications, and educational initiatives, the foundation provides a platform for both emerging and established artists from the region and beyond. It is also the organiser of the internationally acclaimed Sharjah Biennial, one of the world’s leading biennials, which has significantly contributed to Sharjah’s reputation as a major centre for contemporary art and cultural exchange. By fostering critical dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration, the foundation continues to play a vital role in shaping artistic discourse both regionally and internationally.
To get more information about Photographic Encounters along the Gulf Coasts, please go to the official web page of the exhibition.
In addition, you might be interested in viewing twelve historical photo albums launched by Akkasah.
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