Ali AlShehabi

Men of the Pearl

Ali AlShehabi's work is a visual documentation of his nostalgia and upbringing in the Middle East. He views the Middle East as his roots, his muse and his future. He works on portraying the culture in a contemporary way that involves storytelling, reflection and sometimes humor without compromising its soul and core. He takes inspiration from things around him; movies, music videos but mainly family albums. AlShehabi is mainly focused on photography and creative direction.

Ali AlShehabi decided to pursue photography as a creative outlet in his life and a way to curate staged recreations of his childhood memories. His work is an exploration of things within Arab culture. When it comes to the curation and direction of the image, he likes focusing on the background and the foreground. He aims to make the person feel as though they were present in that space, a still moment of life in a way. It’s not just the person being photographed; it is everything that’s within the frame of the image. As a photographer, he considers the frame within the viewfinder to be his canvas.

Born in Bahrain, raised in Dubai, Ali AlShehabi is a visual artist that uses photography as his body of work. He initially studied as a petroleum engineer after graduating high school; however, he dropped out to pursue art and media in Tokyo, Japan, where his interest in photography began to take shape. His mother played a huge role in his influence as she was the photographer in the family and kept plenty of photo albums that he would look into for inspiration from time to time. AlShehabi’s journey with photography has allowed him to showcase his work in different countries and develop a style of his own that continues to evolve.