Friday, Oct 07, 2016

Abu Dhabi: A circle cut into the page showing a falcon sitting behind Shaikh Zayed, founder of the UAE, draws the viewer’s attention to the bird rather than to the setting and the friends and family he is surrounded with in the photograph, a detail that would otherwise probably be missed.

“The visual intervention [cut out circle] triggered curiosity as to why the falcon is even there?,” Shaikha Mariam Bint Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the granddaughter of Shaikh Zayed, told Gulf News.

“My grandfather often travelled with falcons. He would gift them to people as special presents. He had great falcons with particular, meaningful names.” This is an extract of the explanation provided by Shaikha Mariam about the picture in the limited edition book for the presence of the falcon in the photograph.

Not offering a full explanation, Shaikha Mariam said, was deliberate, a technique used throughout the book to bring people’s attention to the unlikely objects or people in the photographs.

The photograph is one of 200 presented in the 500-page limited edition book titled, Lest We Forget, and Shaikha Mariam is one of the original students who was involved in creating the book.

What started as a simple university project would go on to not only become a valuable book, documenting the Emirati way of life between 1950 to 1999, but it would also inspire one of the most talked-about exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, located in Warehouse 421, of the same title.

Shaikha Mariam and Dr Michele Bambling, the Creative Director of Lest We Forget, spoke with Gulf News about how the book, and the concept behind it, were developed and the book’s role in preserving traditions.

The project began in 2010 when Dr Bambling, an Art History professor at Zayed University at the time, asked her students to bring old family photographs for a class project. However, it was not until Shaikha Mariam brought in her family photographs to class that other Emirati students felt comfortable enough to bring in their personal photographs, she added.

Several photographs from Shaikha Mariam’s family albums, including pictures of Shaikh Zayed and President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan have been published in the book.

“The project started with collecting and studying [photographs] but we were so inspired by how the pictures were composed or taken that we decided to create an art project, an artistic album like no other. Through the language of art, we could unify their stories into a coherent narrative,” said Dr Bambling.

Shaikha Mariam said her search for photographs through boxes of personal photographs took her on a journey through her family’s past.

Humble, modest and soft-spoken, Shaikha Mariam said, “I saw another side of my dad... for me it was seeing something very special, very unusual.

“Specially photos of my grandfather and my dad hunting in Africa. Some of them have never been seen,” she added.

The title of the book was also a collaborative effort.

“Everyone had a say. We talked about how we wanted the book to look, how we wanted the cover to look, even the [book’s] size. And everyone felt that Lest we Forget was the most appropriate title,” said Dr Bambling.

“Because, lest we forget the past, lest we forget how our parents lived, lest we forget the memories, the list can go on,” added Shaikha Mariam.

Dr Bambling said the process of analysing the photographs also highlighted trends of the time but it also showed some of the common traditions, which are not always documented, or captured on camera.

“[The photographs in the book] demonstrate what aspects of traditions continue to be practised and the lives of people in 70s, 80s and 90s and how they changed to meet the times,” said Shaikha Mariam.

“The book isn’t so much about tracing the traditions to the bedouin society but about the society from the unification [of the UAE]. The society that went through rapid modernity and became the unification of the seven emirates,” added Dr Bambling.

Shaikha Mariam explained that she and the other students were determined to make the book appeal to all ages and backgrounds.

“It has such a depth that you can go as deep as you like. But you can also go through it and just enjoy the pictures,” Shaikha Mariam explained.

From people’s first passport and identity cards, wedding and Eid celebrations, to what people wore, the photographs cover a range of occasions.

Another common trend among the photographs that students brought in were their family’s photographs with Shaikh Zayed, at ceremonies or even at their homes. This was of no surprise to Shaikha Mariam as she said her grandfather was known to be very accessible to people, a fact that she said she makes her proud to have his name.

Dr Bambling said the sheer number of photographs by the student’s families with Shaikh Zayed, “showed how much he really meant to people personally and on a very private level”.

The project continued at Zayed University until 2013. By 2013, the Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation had heard about the unique art project and approached Dr Bambling about developing it.

“The Foundation recognised its value and potential as a national cultural initiative and invited me to launch the project on a larger scale,” said Dr Bambling.

From this point on, the contributors to the book would become the Foundation’s Emirati interns and, by the time the book was completed, there were 100 contributors, all Emirati women. In November 2015, the book was launched and an exhibition of the same title was created in Abu Dhabi’s Warehouse 421.

“I never thought that Lest We Forget would grow to reach the national and international community to this extent. But I knew that it was important and I believed in its potential,” said Shaikha Mariam.

Shaikha Mariam said she hopes Lest We Forget can continue as she believes it has the potential to be even bigger and have more participation from Emirati families from across the country.

“It can live on as an inspiration for other people to contribute so the project can grow and more creative work can come of it,” said Shaikha Mariam.

Copies of Lest We Forget are available for sale at Warehouse 421.

By Sarvy Geranpayeh Staff Reporter

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