Plates piled with food. Queues of worshippers in halls bursting to capacity. Empty prayer areas offering silent moments of contemplation. These are just some of the images in Observing the Ritual, a group exhibition celebrating Ramadan.
On show at Gulf Photo Plus gallery in Dubai, the exhibition brings together three series of distinctly different photographs that underline the holy month’s spirit of community.
British-Lebanese photographer Natalie Naccache's body of work, simply titled Iftar, documents the breaking of the fast within different segments of Beirut society. From her neighbour's home to the local mosque, she visited several places. One of the most humbling experiences, she says, was visiting Syrian refugees in makeshift tents: "They hardly had any food themselves, but they wanted to share with me."
It was important, she says, to present a positive message about Muslims. “Islam is a controversial subject at the moment – it is never seen as something that brings people together, only something that divides people, which is always bound up with politics,” she says. “However, in Ramadan and at iftar time, everyone gathers and breaks their fast together. It is an age-old tradition that depends on the whole community, and the atmosphere is celebratory.”
Alongside her photographs are two series of works exploring prayer rooms. Emirati Ammar Al Attar’s images are serene images of prayer halls in public buildings in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Al Attar has captured them empty, with no manipulation of the lighting or set-up. The photographs indirectly offer the viewer a similar experience to the user of the prayer room – contemplative reflection.
“For me, I concentrate on the space itself – its colours, form and design – and by presenting the images as a series, I focus on the similar functionality,” he says.
This is in contrast with Italian Nicoló Degiorgis, the third photographer in the show, whose series, Hidden Islam, focuses on the Muslim community in north-east Italy and how they transform unlikely spaces into places of worship.
His work is presented as a book in which the pages are exterior shots of ordinary buildings found in Italian communities. But the pages unfold to reveal what is inside the buildings – rooms full of worshippers, all in the act of prayer.
For the exhibition, pages of the book are affixed to the wall, with only two large prints of the prayer halls hung alongside. The rest are meant to be viewed in the book itself.
“The idea is that you first look at the book and then discover what is inside,” says Degiorgis. With 1.35 million Muslims in Italy and fewer than 10 mosques in the country, documenting these makeshift rooms was an interesting project.
The book is divided into chapters based on the type of building being used as prayer halls – warehouses, malls or garages. The architectural images are all in black and white, making the colourful images inside leap out of the page.
“There are several layers to this project, and one is the strength that the community finds in coming together to make these ‘unofficial’ mosques,” he says.
Degiorgis became interested in the Muslim community when he was living in China in the 1990s. When he returned to Italy, he continued this line of research and started this particular project in 2009.
“I wanted to focus on freedom of religion and spirituality,” he says.
Although the three series are very different, the thread that links them is the dialogue happening between them – something that conveys the joy and solemnity of Ramadan.
“The whole exhibition focuses on the spiritual atmosphere of the prayer and the breaking of the fast, which are collective acts, something that we are missing now that most people focus more on themselves and follow individual ways of life,” says Al Attar. “Hopefully they will have a positive effect on the people who will spend their Ramadan in Dubai and come and see the show.”
• Observing the Ritual runs until August 27 at Gulf Photo Plus, www.gulfphotoplus.com
aseaman@thenational.ae