Stop in over the next several weeks to view Gregory Tuck’s austerely beautiful photos of Masaieem, Qatar. Click on the image above to learn more about Greg. Here’s what he has to say about his Masaieem exhibit:
“As dusk falls on the area around Mesaieem, Qatar, the desert for a moment lends its mystery to the sprawling oil refinery complex nearby. Our notions of the oil-rich monarchies of the Middle East are made up of contradictory images. On the one hand we hold an image of a region defined by its oil resources. This is a commercial, even mercenary land where a commodity vital to our current economy sits in a vast reserve. The luck of geology allows a select few to dwell in plump, aloof comfort in a manufactured modernity of freeways and shopping malls. Then there is an older, nostalgic image of an Arabia of sand, merciless sun and solitude. The landscape is noble and unforgiving. Its very inhospitality prevents further discourse. It is a shut-off place. It is partly this dichotomy, this dwelling in the modern world and its rejection of it that defines life in the contemporary Middle East.”
