A special project to me I created when living abroad. Six different eight-page broadside booklet zines exploring 'Middle Eastern Identity'. All photographs were taken by me. My first ever exploration into layout and design for print including type and photography. Adobe Illustrator.
'Similarities and Differences' brief title
I explored the youth within the middle east of the different cultures portraying the multicultural society with depicting the diversity of my subject's individual differences who all share the similarity of living in one location that is the UAE.
The title of my zine is Everyday Visible, the reason why I chose this title is It relates to my use of locations in my shoots that portray the real everyday Arab cities. In addition, depicts the raw moment in my images of the people being in their natural state of wearing their casual own clothes which is how they look Every day.
For the full-back cover design, I selected and combined elements of the different subject’s bodies into one person for each subject, which symbolises the multicultural society in the UAE. The subject’s body parts fit in with each other such as the arms, shoulders, legs and shoes of the others which represents the development and understanding of one’s culture that is either new to them.
My multi-conceptual zine is a fold-out design, It has a cut in the middle of the paper so it can be folded into a book, and it's double-sided printed, making it reversible.
I have various words across my zine that have significant meaning to my project.
Relationship relates to the intimacy with my subject which is key to capturing this raw moment in my images. Youth relates to the period of life my subjects are in. Westernized relates to how expatriates have adapted and influenced people in the UAE. Culture relates to my subject's different backgrounds. Diversity relates to the variation of people I have photographed that have induvial differences in either their religion, ethnicity or race. Individuality relates to characteristics of my subjects that may be instantly distinctive or subtle. Identity relates to how living in the UAE has conformed to my subject’s characteristics. Knowledge relates to the growth and understanding of my subject’s differences from culture. Tradition relates to the values of my subject’s culture.
