Another Side of Dubai #3 Cone Bricks Van Mosque

My name is Matthew Baker and this is the third image of my Another Side of Dubai series. The collection looks at Dubai beyond an influencers Instagram or glossy travel website.

It looks at the flip side of the coin all in black and white to try and find what the essence of the unseen side of the city is. What is moving in Dubai, what is staying the same and what is ‘the real’ Dubai? Maybe I’m trying to work out why I’m interested in that.

Anyone whose been to Dubai knows that it is often half building site half city. It is ever in a state of becoming. Reinventing itself on the sand regularly.

This image is a tip of the hat to that fact. A pile of bricks cornered off with a cone. It also shows the unnecessary bureaucracy that often rages Dubai. It is not uncommon for you to be bizarrely directed somewhere or told you can’t do something for not any explaination. There’s also a universality to a cone.

No one was working on the bricks and the cone felt like it was their soul protector. The items just left there. An unintentional sulpture of lazybuilders I suppose. This is quite a common thing when attempting to travel round Dubai on foot or bike. There are often a lot of blockages. The car rules in Dubai and everything else is definitely second.

Me and wife were discussing how in many ways it’s the America of the Arab world. But more on that in another picture in the series.

The mosque in the background is an ever present sight in Dubai. Gloriously beautiful they often sit on the side of highways. The mosques always look very out of context as they are always incredibly pristine. It feels like they should be surrounded by spindly streets. But they arn’t, they are modern. I suppose this is a little odd for me coming from England, as it’s very unlikely for a new church to be built in a classical style. They are often built in a modern style so the traditionalism I find very interesting.

Anyway the mosque is important sitting in the background of the image and if you listen carefully enough you might hear the call to prayer.

The next is the van. If you look, you can see the wonderfully decorative back and side woven into the of the van in metal.

I love the pattern and the idea of something so utilitarian being made a little romantic. These vans are usually driven by immigrants to Dubai from India of Pakistan. I like how the van is a little bit of their culture being represented in their mode of transportation.

Even in the modern era there is room for poetry in the most mundane of places. I suppose the van sat next to the mosque and the bricks and the cone tells a story of the unintentional beauty of spaces. It speaks to me about how Dubai was built, is changing, how it’s powered and it’s spiritual driving force.

Behind the whole scene sits the banks. The money from the oil that built the city and what they did with that. They built a city from the sand. That is quiet spectacular. This picture sings to me of the idiosyncrasies of this place and its history and my frustrations with it.

The palm trees line the high way like Beverly Hills. They come out wonderfully in black and white. It’s funny that palm trees are associated with glamour and the excess of Hollywood. Next to the other parts of the photo it really gets me thinking about contradictions of all of these narratives jammed together. Also I love the reflections from the glass. The idea that it reflects itself outwards to the word with all of these things squished in.

Most of all the image for me is about finding narritive in more unusual spaces. How there is no normal when you look closely. The madness of the banal and the verse of the image. I hope that it leads you to double check your normal and find the magic and history in your own daily walk or drive.

Cone Bricks Van Mosque (2021)

A clash of spaces.

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For an archive of my work check out www.matthewbakerphotography.wordpress.com

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