Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — Born in Dubai in 1981, Emirati artist Ammar Mohammed Al Attar was raised in Ajman, where he currently resides.



As a photographer, Al Attar plans to document the UAE culture and the regional art scene.



Through his photography, Al Attar captures the changing course of life and its simplistic beauty. “I want to archive the world we are living in now and document it in books that will be used in future by historians and universities.”



He is a member of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), the Photographic Society of America (PSA), and the Abu Dhabi International Photographic Society (ADIPS). “I usually use photography as my medium of art and specially documentary.”



His work was recently featured at Athr gallery in Saudi Arabia and has been as showcased in the UAE and abroad like Thessaloniki Museum in Greece.



Talking about his prayer rooms’ display at Athr gallery in Jeddah, Al Attar said after he showcased the Prayer Rooms in UAE, he found an opportunity to work with Athr in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah.



“I came to Jeddah for two weeks and surveyed the city to look for different prayer rooms. What I look for are the places that are shifted to be a prayer room. The concept is that as Muslims, we have five prayers in a day and we have to pray them on time. Thus people created these makeshift places to perform the five prayers on time,” he said.



He added: “Even if they face difficulties going to the mosques, whether the place is so simple or decorated, at the end we need to perform our prayer. “In Jeddah I found it interesting as I found lots of outdoor prayer rooms. This is also because all shops close during pray time. Thus some shops or group of shops decide to donate the prayer space outside their shops.” He showed 20 images of prayer rooms when he went to Madinah, and some industrial areas in Makkah.



“These are selected from more prayer rooms I photographed but I decided just to show these. The really different one was the prayer room on the plane, which is only in Saudi Airlines, which made me choose Saudi Airline flight to take the prayer room image.



“In general it was a great experience and showing at Athr is really important for me because of the importance of the gallery in KSA and its reputation around the world.”



Al Attar likes documentary photography and his aim is to archive and create visual history of his home country.



He said he would love to do a project of portraits of the art scene, “which is photographing artists and art related people in my country and around the region. I’d love to work on a project in our New Zayed National Museum.”



For most of his projects, he uses the traditional analogue camera. “It makes me slow and think more before I capture the image. The prayer rooms I did it with Fujica 6x9 medium format film camera.”



He enjoys street art and documentary photography even with his iPhone. “You wouldn’t believe it but my first photo I sold was an iPhone image of an old steel colorful door, and it was inspiring to do a book about the doors which I’m working on now.”



Talking about his achievements, Al Attar said: “Participating in Sharjah Biannel 11 was a great thing for me and also to have a solo show in Jeddah, outside my country really makes me appreciate what I do and it means a lot to me.”



Saudi artists Manal Al Dowayan and Ahmed Matar inspire Ammar. “Internationally I love the work of Stephan Shore and William Eggleston.” He said photographers or artists should always have a message and thought when presenting an artwork.



He is currently preparing for an exhibition in December in Dubai, and negotiating another Prayer Rooms Project in Bahrain.