Portamosque

The UAE as a country is only 45 years old but it has witnessed rapid development. Dubai especially has been dubbed SimCity, as large development corporations design and build complete neighborhoods in line with the overall 'vision' for the country. In making the series of 'portamosque' photographs, one day I was challenged by a local lady whose concern was that I was taking pictures of things that 'didn't make Dubai look good'. I carefully explained to her why I was interested in photographing these small mosques. Islam is a religion of humility and even though these buildings with their peeling paint might not fit in with the marketing vision of the UAE, as places of worship they were as important as the grand mosques. The mosque I was photographing at the time was very much a focal point for a small community of farm workers. Five times a day the mosque would sound the call to prayer through a squeaky megaphone and almost without exception everyone would wander over to the mosque. I have always been impressed at how faith brought meaning to the lives of people who lived and worked in the harshest of environments. These temporary structures were not placed on coordinates according to an urban planners design, by rather built by people because they needed to be. I would like to think that the lady, driving away in her land cruiser, stopped to think next time she passed a mosque at a gas station or a truck stop and wondered about the lives of the people who built it, not as buildings that should be hidden but rather as icons of popular culture. Ten images from a much larger project of images.