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- Flags in celebration of UAE National Day (celebrating the 1971 unification of the seven Emirates), depicting Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum – Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE and constitutional monarch of the Dubai Emirate. — December 2012; Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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- Graffiti reading “Fuck oppression” and “Freedom to Ahmed Duma” (first anti-Morsi activist to be jailed following the postrevolutionary election). — July 2012; Cairo, Egypt
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- Graffiti in solidarity with Bahrain’s revolution – the text reads, “Bahrain’s revolution will be victorious.” — June 2012; Cairo, Egypt
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- Pro-reform demonstrators congregate in Morocco’s capital city, raising their hands to the sky in a gesture meant to underscore the peaceful nature of democratization protests. — April 2011; Rabat, Morocco
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- The monumental Burj Khalifa tower, emblematic of the Dubai skyline and the UAE more broadly, has been commodified as a symbol of Emirati modernity and economic achievement. In a surreal gesture, Dubai mall featured a three-story replica of the towering structure—formed entirely from Ferrero Rocher chocolates. — December 2012; Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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- As part of a massive pro-labor demonstration celebrated on May Day, thousands of Tunisians flooded Habib Bourguiba avenue, underscoring the need for post revolutionary unity. This man’s sign reads: “No left, no right – unity for all.” — May 2012; Tunis, Tunisia
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- Shuttered windows on a synagogue featuring the Star of David (read also as the “Seal of Solomon” in Islamic traditions), in the downtown heart of the Tunisian capital. — June 2012; Tunis, Tunisia
These photographs arose out of a long-standing interest in the modes of authority—religious, economic, political and cultural—in visual culture across the world. This set of images, dated between 2010 and 2012, was taken during field research throughout North Africa and the Middle East, in my capacity as a regional analyst, artist, photojournalist and academic. In each of these fields, my work explores the performance of political legitimacy and contestation in a variety of media—aiming to illuminate the processes by which individual actors play on sensory affect to articulate visions of idealized future(s) through reference to localized inheritance of the past(s).
