Odysseus: A narrative of islands in Abu Dhabi
By Munira Al Sayegh
Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Abu Dhabi Archipelago (Salaaha 2), (2015), Digital Print 100 x 130cm. Courtesy of The Third Line, Dubai.
In December 2014, The National published an article titled “Abu Dhabi’s 214 Islands to Get Standardized Names,” which triggered Al-Ghoussein’s curiosity and led to the start of his research on the subject of understanding the diverse and wide landscape of Abu Dhabi.
His body of work, titled Odysseus, aims to carryout a comprehensive artistic study of Abu Dhabi’s islands to document and interact with both the natural and the man-made islands surveying their habitats and built environments. Through the discovery of these islands, Al-Ghoussein captured images and collected found objects that touch on various subjects that show the wide range of diversity found on these islands.
The project, Odysseus, started through a commission from the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) for the exhibition Art and Nature (2016), organized in collaboration with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD). Initially, he explored the islands off the coast of Mirfa in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region and was granted access through the Environmental Agency to visit all of the islands under their protection.
“I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of protected islands off the coast of Abu Dhabi,” he said, and set off to research the remaining islands.He began to understand their robustness and to photograph as many of them as possible. This included spending time trying to gain access to the private islands, which he slowly was able to obtain due to the growing support of the owners. A selection was showcased at 421 in Abu Dhabi as an ongoing project, with the narrative and scope of the overall theme in constant development, through the discovery of the islands right off the capital city’s coasts, the changes that take place on these islands depending on the season, and the migration of sea animals. His unfinished project was to present the varied and rich existence of these islands, which demand further attention given their isolation in the Arabian Gulf.