Dubai and Abu Dhabi feature in The National's review of Martin Parr's Luxury:
“Traditionally a photographer would do a story about poverty,” says Parr. “I am approaching wealth with the same spirit.”
The photographs in Luxury span five years and a string of countries, including England, France, South Korea, Russia and the UAE. For Parr, Abu Dhabi and Dubai were obvious places to visit for this project.
“Part of my job is to think about global trends. The Middle East, particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi, led the way in terms of this hedonistic, consumer culture, so it was inevitable that I would be drawn there. Of course there is a very good mix of the Arab world and the expat world. The two things got along together quite well, so for me it was the perfect place to come.”
It is not hard to see why. The mix of different cultures and nationalities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai creates a never-ending stream of contrasts. It is just the type of environment in which he seems to thrive.
“You have all these different factions and all these different interests: Somalians, very keen on racing, no alcohol; Arabs, watching the horses tentatively; and the expats, who are not really into the racing, basically getting drunk.”
One kind of event which appears often in the book is art fairs. Luxury includes five photographs from the Dubai Art Fair and one from the Sotheby’s exhibition at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, as well as many other images from art events around the world. In this context, art is a commodity packaged to be bought and sold. Contemplating and appreciated art is reduced to a transaction like any other.
“Art is very good because it is the ultimate luxury item,” says Parr. “That is why I went to art fairs. And, of course, art is usually quite dynamic, so you can have fun combining people with that strong graphic.”
The sequence from the Gulf Art fair in Dubai 2007 is a great example of such comic amalgam. A man in a crazy-patterned shirt contemplates a Pollock-style canvas; a woman wearing a dotted shirt looks at a classic Mini car painted with similar dots; a woman in a green, leaf-print top regards images of lush, tropical waterfalls: life mimics art and becomes art again.
Parr’s work was displayed in the UAE in March 2008. Images from the Luxury project formed an exhibition at the Third Line Gallery in Dubai. Part of it was an instant show: Parr took photographs at various venues in Dubai, which were printed, mounted and exhibited within 48 hours. It was well received, but he has no plans for other exhibitions in the UAE any time soon.
It is a shame, because one gets the feeling that he genuinely likes it here. In an interview he referred to the Dubai World Cup as “probably one of the most democratically attended events in the world.” Democratic is an apt term. To Parr’s lens, all subjects are equally anonymous and equally interesting. Celebrity hierarchies hold no sway. Lists of famous people are irrelevant.
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