This week I met a young girl from Ajman with an unassuming talent. Amani Al Shaali is only 22 but she takes artistic photographs with a maturity beyond her years. Although she was born and raised under the perpetually blue skies of the UAE, all her images portray storm clouds and turbulent weather in a kind of dark romanticism reminiscent of 19th century tragic novels.
It is her way of expressing a pathetic fallacy; the artist herself suffered from depression and found photography a way of dealing with that.
This weekend, she is opening her first solo show at Pro Art Gallery in Dubai
Here I asked her to explain some of her photographs to give us an insight into her thinking:
Q: Tell us about Naïve, the image full of falling knives?
A: Naïve tells the story of a girl who is pure but has been stricken by the pain caused by the ones closest to her. Her blindfold implies that she's too blind to see what's right in front of (or above) her - a rain of knives. Despite everything that has happened to her, she is still standing strong.
Q: What was your inspiration behind making this image?
A: When I came up with this, I was doing an inspiration exercise where I’d stare at any object and think of all the words that remind me of it, whatever crossed my mind. I was in the kitchen at the time and I saw a knife and wanted to challenge myself to do something based on that. The words that came into my head were: “pain, hurt, stab, back-stab”. And I just built everything around that. A challenge I had was that I couldn’t get the top half of the girl and her hands in one shot, so I combined two different pictures – one with her head and hair movement, the second for the hand pose.
Q: How about An Infinity of Passion? Is that a more positive image?
A: Yes. This piece represents how I feel about photography and life. Once I discovered what my passion really is, I felt infinite. I know this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So I made the flowing materials of her dress resemble the sign of infinity.
Q: Many of your pieces depict women wearing flowing robes and I think they are really beautiful. Can you please describe what you were feeling when you made the piece entitled Across The Abyss?
A: This piece is one of the more personal pieces as it represents the struggle of trudging on when the road ahead isn’t exactly clear, while being guided by faith. Don’t look back and don’t look down, believe that you will make it, and you will.
Q: What About Us? strikes me as quite different from the rest of your images, perhaps because it contains many subjects. I also think it is haunting. Were you intending that to be the reaction of the viewer?
A: What About Us? is a mixture of the loss of identity, the fear of blending in, and also of being forgotten. It represents people who feel lost, but are also carbon copies of each other. This was shot in two separate locations; the background and clouds were shot in Fujairah and the girl, whose image I have repeated several times was shot in Ajman.
* Amani Al Shaali's exhibition opens tomorrow at 7.30pm at Pro Art Gallery in Jumeirah, Dubai. To find out more about Amani's work read her blog here
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
If you go
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.
The bio:
Favourite film:
Declan: It was The Commitments but now it’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
Heidi: The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Favourite holiday destination:
Declan: Las Vegas but I also love getting home to Ireland and seeing everyone back home.
Heidi: Australia but my dream destination would be to go to Cuba.
Favourite pastime:
Declan: I love brunching and socializing. Just basically having the craic.
Heidi: Paddleboarding and swimming.
Personal motto:
Declan: Take chances.
Heidi: Live, love, laugh and have no regrets.
UAE SQUAD
UAE team
1. Chris Jones-Griffiths 2. Gio Fourie 3. Craig Nutt 4. Daniel Perry 5. Isaac Porter 6. Matt Mills 7. Hamish Anderson 8. Jaen Botes 9. Barry Dwyer 10. Luke Stevenson (captain) 11. Sean Carey 12. Andrew Powell 13. Saki Naisau 14. Thinus Steyn 15. Matt Richards
Replacements
16. Lukas Waddington 17. Murray Reason 18. Ahmed Moosa 19. Stephen Ferguson 20. Sean Stevens 21. Ed Armitage 22. Kini Natuna 23. Majid Al Balooshi
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Test squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan(wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
Twenty20 squad: Babar Azam (captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz
New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
New Zealand
Penalties: Barrett (7)
British & Irish Lions
Tries: Faletau, Murray
Penalties: Farrell (4)
Conversions: Farrell
Sri Lanka's T20I squad
Thisara Perera (captain), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela Udawatte, Dasun Shanaka, Sachith Pathirana, Vikum Sanjaya, Lahiru Gamage, Seekkuge Prasanna, Vishwa Fernando, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay and Chathuranga de Silva.
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
