Photo Essay: Al Rolla

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Al Rolla in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, has played host to traders and travellers for more than a century. Known for its bustling souqs, brimming with goods brought in from the Persian Gulf, South Asia, as well as the continent of Africa, this neighbourhood has epitomised the notion of ‘globalisation’ before the word acquired its current agency. With dhows — manned by multinational crews — bearing cargo from Arab, African, and Asian shores, this hectic bazaar continues to be sustained by a transient, international populace. Expatriate workers (and their families), like modern-day nomads, spend a few years here before moving on and exchanging geographies. They bring with them flavours, scents, and symbols of home, if even for a brief period. There is a continuous influx — visitors turn into residents who turn into travelers at a subsequent time — and a constant, seemingly never-ending stream of people. The demographics change; the neighbourhood flexes and alters shape, yet the impermanence of its residents remains its one permanent feature.

My work attempts to explore Al Rolla’s textured, nuanced, and fluid worlds that blend, cleave, and merge, like ripples on the surface of a timeless, serpentine river.