I have been taking photographs in Oman since 2006 and even though I am fascinated by local motifs and details, I find that consciously and subconsciously I am influenced by the cultural themes I have experienced in other countries.
Having originally studied Three-Dimensional Design I am drawn to the arts and crafts of other cultures. Though I use a camera to capture the aesthetics of Islamic design, I am hesitant to call myself a photographer; instead I want to record these images to use in some way in the future.
In exploring the wider region – from Yemen to Syria, Oman to Jordan – I draw inspiration from Islamic visual art. Textiles, clothes, jewellery, metalware, calligraphy and carpets have historically been the principal canvasses amongst the nomadic peoples of the Gulf region and beyond and these patterns and designs are now expressed in contemporary regional architecture, arts and crafts. From the humble doorways of old Manah to the splendor of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque; from the hennaed hand of the wedding guest to the embroidered cuffs sold in the Women’s Souq in Ibra, the richness of colour and design is often only glimpsed behind the monochromatic outer layers of dress, landscape and wall, making it even more tantalizing, exotic and surprising.
However, even as I crop a detail of a sheet metal door from the interior of Oman, I find the influences of other cultures rising to the surface; the concepts of space in Japan, the blend of western and Arabic culture in Spain, the vibrant colours of Asia, the calligraphy of China. These influences challenge my ‘western’ view of the relationships between objects and space and spill over into a new attention to colour, texture, pattern, light and shape.