In Hoda Afshar’s works, the camera is almost always a palpable presence.
Her subjects are often aware they are being framed. They stare into the camera lens and are affected by it. They pose proudly, they smile, they hide their faces.
The Iranian artist, who lives in Australia, doesn’t attempt to obscure herself from her photographs. Unlike a photojournalist trying to present as from an invisible eye, Afshar is more interested in the intrusiveness of the camera. Yet, she is a documentarian all the same.
Afshar’s photographs exist in a nebulous overlap between the staged and the real but her photographs are documentations all the same. The series she is most known for, Remain, was made in collaboration with refugees to Australia imprisoned on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
The portraits show the men posing shirtless, pitch-black backgrounds behind them. Some are in an evidently emaciated or uncomfortable state. Others are taking cold bucket showers or are in a weathered calm.
Afshar’s newest photo series Speak the Wind moves the documentarian into folklore from her native country. The series willbe exhibited at Australia’s International Photography Festival from April 29 to May 22.
Speak the Wind was shot over three islands in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, Hormuz, Qeshm, and Hengam. The islands’ mysticisms, stories and histories are at the focal point of the series.
One of the photographs shows a woman on a rocky hilltop, a rugged mountain range sprawled behind her. The fabrics of her dress billows out with the wind. They surround and obscure her like bulbous, pneumatic bells. The work calls on to one of the island’s beliefs: the wind as a force that can possess, blowing with illness and disease.
Afshar’s series also reveals an otherworldly side to the islands, from the rituals of its dwellers to the mysticism between light and shadow in between the islands’ jagged landscape. This also includes portraits of the sellers in their polychrome fabrics, to images of gravesites and the blood-red shoreline.
In one image, a figure is hunkered on the desert floor, body concealed under a fabric that blends with the creases of the surrounding sands. It is a figure being incorporated into the landscape. In another, the sky is reflected in the waters of the Gulf, red with the iron oxide of the islands’ soil.
The International Photography Festival, or Photo 2022, is the first time the photography series is being exhibited. The festival will show 123 Australian and international artists and photographers across 90 exhibitions, with 50 world premieres including 24 specially commissioned projects.
The festival features large-scale outdoor installations at famed and unexpected sites across Melbourne, including curated exhibitions at 38 galleries such as ACMI and NGV Australia. There will also belarge-scale lightboxes along Southbank Promenade to a photography and sound installation by Bidjara artist Christian Thompson in the former courtyard of the Old Melbourne Gaol.
The festival’s theme for its second year is Being Human, prompting artists and photographs to unpack the human condition to explore what informs who we are, what unites us and what makes us unique within the narratives of society, self, mortality, nature and history.
Artists and photographers exhibiting at the event include Gillian Wearing, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Mohamed Bourouissa, Poulomi Basu, Vasantha Yogananthan, and Luo Yang.
US Industrial Market figures, Q1 2017
Vacancy Rate 5.4%
Markets With Positive Absorption 85.7 per cent
New Supply 55 million sq ft
New Supply to Inventory 0.4 per cent
Under Construction 198.2 million sq ft
(Source: Colliers)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In the Restaurant: Society in Four Courses
Christoph Ribbat
Translated by Jamie Searle Romanelli
Pushkin Press
Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush
Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”
A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.
“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”
Glossary of a stock market revolution
Reddit
A discussion website
Redditor
The users of Reddit
Robinhood
A smartphone app for buying and selling shares
Short seller
Selling a stock today in the belief its price will fall in the future
Short squeeze
Traders forced to buy a stock they are shorting
Naked short
An illegal practice
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Operation Mincemeat'
Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Company profile
Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space
Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)
Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)
Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)
Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space
Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019
Tips for SMEs to cope
- Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
- Make sure you have an online presence
- Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
- Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe
Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads
Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike
They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users
Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance
They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians
How to help
Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.
Account name: Dar Al Ber Society
Account Number: 11 530 734
IBAN: AE 9805 000 000 000 11 530 734
Bank Name: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
To ensure that your contribution reaches these people, please send the copy of deposit/transfer receipt to: juhi.khan@daralber.ae
Profile of Udrive
Date started: March 2016
Founder: Hasib Khan
Based: Dubai
Employees: 40
Amount raised (to date): $3.25m – $750,000 seed funding in 2017 and a Seed round of $2.5m last year. Raised $1.3m from Eureeca investors in January 2021 as part of a Series A round with a $5m target.
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Key features of new policy
Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6
Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge
A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools
Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: N2 Technology
Founded: 2018
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Startups
Size: 14
Funding: $1.7m from HNIs
More on animal trafficking
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
