ArtDayME: Vantage Point Sharjah (VPS), an annual photography exhibition by Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), has returned for its 11th edition.

Featuring four artists and one collective whose work challenges established notions of photographic practices, the exhibition is running from October 14, to January 14, 2024 at Old Al Diwan Al Amiri in Al Hamriyah, Sharjah.

This year, VPS identifies and supports early-career photographers who were born in Africa and Asia. It includes African and Asian photographers currently based in their home countries or who are part of the diaspora.

Chosen through an international open call that received more than 350 applications, the selected artists embody diverse approaches but share overlapping tendencies—the pursuit of contemporary image-making techniques, the re-contextualisation of found or inherited images and engagement with the visual afterlives of colonialist legacies.

This year, VPS is supporting early-career photographers who were born in Africa and Asia.

Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News

Featured artists

Oumaima Abaraghe (b. 1999, Casablanca) uses collage techniques and digital manipulation to reconstruct Morocco’s fragmentary colonial archive, signalling its inherent fallibility. Yashna Kaul (b. 1995, Mumbai) unearths the secrets embedded in her family’s photo album and reveals how the framing of a moment can shape personal histories and collective memory. Through emotive storytelling, Mohamed Mahdy (b. 1996, Giza) documents the displacement of the fishing community of El Maks, Alexandria, and captures the generational impact of urban redevelopment policies.

Questioning the aspirations of nation-state imagery, Postbox Ghana [Nana Ofosu Adjei (b. 1993, Accra), Courage Dzidula Kpodo (b. 1999, Kumasi) and Manuela Nebuloni (b. 1986, Milan)] resituate popular postcard images of post-independence Ghana within the country’s contemporary urban landscape.

Clea Rekhou (b. 1988, Paris) contrasts a series of soft-lit, intimate family portraits with narratives of generational violence, suggesting the complexity of human relationships.

Dual exhibition modes

Works by these emerging artists are displayed in two exhibition modes: independent presentations of the artists’ individual practices and a communal storytelling space that interweaves their combined practices.

VPS 11 is also introducing a one-on-one professional mentoring programme. Participating artists will be paired with cultural practitioners or industry professionals of their choice so that they can improve their skills and take advantage of a unique learning experience led by experts in the field.

Introduced in 2013 to cultivate public engagement with photography as an artistic medium, VPS has evolved into a dynamic platform that embraces multiple approaches to photography, from photojournalism and photo essays to experimental work in both analogue and digital forms.

Visiting the exhibition

When: October 14, 2023 to January 14, 2024

Where: Old Al Diwan Al Amiri, Al Hamriyah, Sharjah

Timings: Saturday to Thursday 9am–9pm, Friday

4pm–9pm