Another Side of Dubai 2# Creek Fishnets

My name is Matthew Baker and I’m an artist who grew up in York in England. When I make a joke to my friends from New York about the fact that we are the original they never take particularly kindly to it. Which is fair enough.

This is the second of my series of black and white photos of Dubai as I spend 21 days in transit here waiting to enter Hong Kong. The reason for this is a story for another day. I’m staying in Deira, which is a district in Dubai. Deira is connected to a creek which is connected to the sea which is where this photo is taken.

I was drawn to the nets firstly because the top nets appear to be almost floating on the bottom set. I also loved the shadows the nets created on the pier. Checkering in the sun.

On top of the nets there was some kind of plant drying. They were arranged really wonderfully. I thought the plants created (what I can only assume) was an unintentional pattern.

I also liked the play on the fishnet tights. Which you would be incredibly unlikely to find anywhere along the Creek of Dubai. Not that Dubai is very conservative in that respect. In the Hotels around Jameria and the Palm it certainly isn’t unusual to see people in bikinis but in Deira you certainly wouldn’t. Like many cities Dubai is gated in terms of class and different rules apply to different people in different places.

The Dhow boats are part of Dubai’s native heritage and they are beautiful and many people still live on them and many people still earn their living from fishing from them.

I like the way that the UAE (United Arab Emerates) flag is lazily draped. In casts images in my mind of Dubai before all of the development. My mind drifts back to days of a small fishing village with Dhow boats cast up on the side of a dune ready for another sea adventure. The smell of fresh fish on an open fire seasoned with spices. Pearls over following in baskets and traders haggling for them. Maybe a simpler time, maybe a more dangerous time or maybe a freer time?

I’m always wary about too much nostalgia. It can be easy to forget the lack of health care and education back then. Also how brutal life might have been. Sometimes I especially dislike fake heritage or what I think as the Disneyfication of history. This image I hope generates the opposite of this feeling. Often in Dubai it is difficult to find authenticity. Everything seems to be a play or a copy of something else. Much of the culture is imported. But in this image I feel that the tiny fishing village lives on.

Maybe I’m mourning a past I never got to see or I’m creating a redisneyfication of the past in an image that I find acceptable to my version of history. For a photo is about building a mythology, that can not be doubted, but certainly you should always question images you see.

The buildings popping in the background are there to remind me that we’re still in the present and the way that the ancient and new collide create new opportunities.

Most of all it was a moment of calm in what can a hectic city that felt real and not manipulated. Something real a country of a lot of facades. I suppose this image is as much as a facade as any but it’s nice when you feel you’ve captured something authentic.

The clouds wispy soothing rhythmic shapes help the image to create a laziness that I particularly enjoyed. Most importantly the image will remind me of a wonderful stroll down the creek and memories of what has been lost and what is left.

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