The Middle East's turbulent modern history -- most recently, the events of the Arab Spring -- has inspired a generation of photographers from the region who are gaining global recognition.
The Middle East's turbulent modern history -- most recently, the events of the Arab Spring -- has inspired a generation of photographers from the region who are gaining global recognition.
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<strong>'Bodiless I' from the series 'Zourkhaneh Project (House of Strength)' by Mehraneh Atashi (2004) <br /></strong>Award-winning Iranian artist Mehraneh Atashi documents typically unseen aspects of life in her country. For this project, she gained the confidence of members of the "zourkhaneh" -- the all-male Iranian gymnasium -- to become one of the few women permitted to enter the gym. Atashi used mirrors to insert her own image into the series.
'Bodiless I' from the series 'Zourkhaneh Project (House of Strength)' by Mehraneh Atashi (2004)
Award-winning Iranian artist Mehraneh Atashi documents typically unseen aspects of life in her country. For this project, she gained the confidence of members of the "zourkhaneh" -- the all-male Iranian gymnasium -- to become one of the few women permitted to enter the gym. Atashi used mirrors to insert her own image into the series.
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<strong>'The break' from the series 'Upekkha' by Nermine Hammam (2011)<br /></strong>Nermine Hammam created these images by digitally layering photographs she took of soldiers in Tahrir Square onto postcard settings, far away from the violence of the Arab Spring. In doing so, the Egyptian designer and artist says she hoped to transport the soldiers to somewhere they would rather be.
'The break' from the series 'Upekkha' by Nermine Hammam (2011)
Nermine Hammam created these images by digitally layering photographs she took of soldiers in Tahrir Square onto postcard settings, far away from the violence of the Arab Spring. In doing so, the Egyptian designer and artist says she hoped to transport the soldiers to somewhere they would rather be.
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<strong>'Wonder Beirut #13, Modern Beirut, International Centre of Water-Skiing,' from the series 'Wonder Beirut' by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (1997-2006)</strong> Inspired by finding that postcards depicting pre-civil war Beirut were still on sale after the war ended in 1990, Lebanese filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige invented a fictional photographer named Abdallah Farrah to document the city's downfall. The duo claim the images were created after violence erupted in 1975 -- when Farrah partly destroyed photographic negatives he had taken for the Lebanese tourist board.
'Wonder Beirut #13, Modern Beirut, International Centre of Water-Skiing,' from the series 'Wonder Beirut' by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (1997-2006) Inspired by finding that postcards depicting pre-civil war Beirut were still on sale after the war ended in 1990, Lebanese filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige invented a fictional photographer named Abdallah Farrah to document the city's downfall. The duo claim the images were created after violence erupted in 1975 -- when Farrah partly destroyed photographic negatives he had taken for the Lebanese tourist board.
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<strong>'Airmail' from the series 'Out of Line' by Jowhara AlSaud (2008)</strong>Saudi artist Jowhara AlSaud scratched the outline of a snapshot photograph into the emulsion of a large-format film cell in order to create this image. She explores Saudi Arabia's ban on depicting personal imagery -- and, she says, censorship more generally -- by removing faces, often from members of the Saudi Diaspora.
'Airmail' from the series 'Out of Line' by Jowhara AlSaud (2008)Saudi artist Jowhara AlSaud scratched the outline of a snapshot photograph into the emulsion of a large-format film cell in order to create this image. She explores Saudi Arabia's ban on depicting personal imagery -- and, she says, censorship more generally -- by removing faces, often from members of the Saudi Diaspora.
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<strong>'Saida in Green' by Hassan Hajjaj (2000) </strong>Artist Hassan Hajjaj moved to London from Larache, Morocco when he was 14, immersing himself in London's music and fashion scenes before returning to North Africa. In his work, he merges Middle Eastern fashion with global brands, using found materials, he says, to play with European stereotypes of North Africa.
'Saida in Green' by Hassan Hajjaj (2000) Artist Hassan Hajjaj moved to London from Larache, Morocco when he was 14, immersing himself in London's music and fashion scenes before returning to North Africa. In his work, he merges Middle Eastern fashion with global brands, using found materials, he says, to play with European stereotypes of North Africa.
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<strong>From the series 'Qajar' by Shadi Ghadirian (1998) <br /></strong>In "Qajar," Tehran-based art photographer Shadi Ghadirian recreates 19th century Iranian studio portraits. By adding incongruous modern day accessories, she hopes to shed light on the fight between tradition and modernity faced by Iran's women.
From the series 'Qajar' by Shadi Ghadirian (1998)
In "Qajar," Tehran-based art photographer Shadi Ghadirian recreates 19th century Iranian studio portraits. By adding incongruous modern day accessories, she hopes to shed light on the fight between tradition and modernity faced by Iran's women.
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<strong>Detail from the series 'The Yemeni Sailors of South Shields' by Youssef Nabil (2006)<br /></strong>Cairo-born Youssef Nabil hand colours his black-and-white photographs to create portraits reminiscent of the film posters produced during the golden age of Egyptian cinema in the 1950s. In 2006, he photographed elders from the Yemeni community of South Shields, north-east England -- giving the portraits added glamour through the association with "Hollywood on the Nile" era media. <strong>Gallery compiled by Matt Ponsford, for CNN</strong>
Detail from the series 'The Yemeni Sailors of South Shields' by Youssef Nabil (2006)
Cairo-born Youssef Nabil hand colours his black-and-white photographs to create portraits reminiscent of the film posters produced during the golden age of Egyptian cinema in the 1950s. In 2006, he photographed elders from the Yemeni community of South Shields, north-east England -- giving the portraits added glamour through the association with "Hollywood on the Nile" era media. Gallery compiled by Matt Ponsford, for CNN
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