SWALIF, ‘Encapsulated Volume 1: Photoessays on Khaleejiness’
ENCAPSULATED VOLUME 1: PHOTOESSAYS ON KHALEEJINESS
Published by Swalif, 2021
Filled with contemplative images, the book explores the urban landscapes and architectural textures of the Gulf, as seen in photographs by Buthaina Al Zaman, Latifa Al Khayat, Malaika Munshi, Khaled Esguerra and Hamad Al Fayhani. Other works play with stereotypical portrayals of gender, as in Hajar Al Mutairi’s portrait of a mustachioed women in traditional dress, or Khaldoun Khelaifi’s image of a Saudi man with a colourful ghutra. Across Encapsulated Volume 1’s 150 pages, the artists argue that the concept of Khaleeji identity remains unfixed, subject to rapid reshaping, much like the region. Khaleejiness is what the editors at SWALIF refer to as “a new plane upon which we currently roam”.