Manarat Al Saadiyat exhibition to show historical images for first time in the Middle East

A new exhibition at Photography Studio at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi will take visitors on a journey to the origins of the visual art form.

Opening to the public on Monday, The Shot is an exhibition showcasing a collection of historically significant images, featuring original prints from the early 1840s, taken using some of the first photo and cine cameras.

The rare selection of historical images by renowned and significant photographers will be on display for the first time ever in the Middle East.

As a byproduct of having advanced and sophisticated cameras on smartphones, many people today take photography for granted. The Shot will be an engaging exhibition for visitors to understand the origins of a medium that has become a part of everyday life around the world.

Providing an engaging and informative overview of the history of photography, the exhibition will display shooting techniques and an array of images they produced from the early 1800s. These include works by pioneering and renowned shutterbugs at the time.

Visitors to the exhibition will get an understanding of the techniques, technology and skills photographers needed at the time to capture the world around them in creative and engaging ways, despite the use of very basic cameras and equipment.

The exhibition will also highlight how modern-day techniques have reproduced and enhanced these works, using innovative methods that focus on light and shadow.

History enthusiasts will also have a chance to view original photo prints of historical figures in political, artistic and literary fields, from the 1840s and onwards.

The Shot will provide a thorough and reverse reading of the creative processes used in the visual art form at the time, highlighting how the medium has developed and advanced over the years.

Manarat Al Saadiyat is also providing visitors opportunities to partake in interactive workshops to experience the earliest form of photo capturing, using a dark room known as Al Qumra, the origins of which are attributed to the work of Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham.

Other workshops include photography in a traditional studio and learning how to process and print images based on the style of different time periods.

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.