The launch of Photography Studio kicks off with an exhibition entitled 'The Presence of Absence', by artist and photographer Jassim Al Awadhi. 

Jassim Al Awadhi actively explores through his work the forsaken settlements left in the desert and skillfully fits them in a frame to echo the existence of the people who once lived in them. In each image, he aims to channel the presence of the people who filled the space, as he believes that the energy is still there at all times.

In this context, energy may refer to the specific characteristics and style of living that could express a certain emotion, such as love, or perhaps grief in some cases. All these are real hints that imaginatively give us some information about emotions that may have been felt in that space at a particular time, but the effects undeniably remain forever.

The viewer might experience their own emotion, triggered by the excitement or tension in each photo, which bears a narrative of who might have been there and what existed in these abandoned spaces. Jassim Al Awadhi is ultimately trying to represent the human traces felt in these settlements by framing what he finds captivating, but also using his aesthetic to achieve an avant-garde quality that blends with his overall modernist approach.

Jassim Al Awadhi is an Emirati photographer and artist born in Dubai 1961, and is considered a pioneer among Emirati Photographers. He received the country’s Appreciation Award in photography. He graduated with a Masters in Photography from Nottingham Trent University, UK in 1999 and a B.A in Fine Arts from University of Dayton, Ohio, USA in 1985. Since 2010, Jassim has participated as the head of the photography awards for various competitions.

Exhibition Opening: October 3/ 6:00pm- 10:00pm
Exhibition: October 4- November 8/ 9:00am – 8:00pm