Ummah

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Ummah

Panorama of Ka’bah and the Meccan sanctuary’

by Sadiq Bey, the first photographer of Mecca and Medina.

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Mecca, Saudi Arabia, December 2019: A pilgrim is seen praying on the top of the Jabal al-Nour, or Mountain of Light. On top of it is a small cave called Hira, where Muslims believe Prophet Mohammed received his first revelation and heard the first Koranic verses.

Seen in the background is the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, the third tallest building in the world. © Ziyah Gafic / VII.

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Concept There are fifty-seven Muslim countries in the world*. Fortynine of these nations, which span across the rice fields and rainforests of Southeast Asia, the deserts of North Africa, and the verdant Balkan peninsula, have distinct Muslimmajority populations. Despite extremely different governmental structures, social customs, and economic contexts, these countries are still bound by a common Islamic history. Together they have a significant collective impact on geopolitics, history, and culture, creating Ummah — a community without borders.

This project will redefine how these countries and their peoples are portrayed and reveal the gamut of life from birth to death.

We will explore faith and family, febrile urban communities and rural life, and celebrate joy while acknowledging life’s trials and tribulations. We will examine faith and devotion, as well as the human relationship with the natural world in all its magnificence. At a moment when humanity is often confronted with the worst of itself, this project will celebrate the rich impact of Islam on humankind.

*Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s member list

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A view of the newly built business district of Doha, Qatar. © Ziyah Gafic / VII.

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In the early days of daguerreotypes and glass plates, Ummah was largely photographed by foreign diplomats, surveyors, or pilgrims, fueling the prevalent Orientalist perception of the Middle East and Islamic world. This resulted in a romanticized, fragmented, and distorted portrayal of the Ummah. In contemporary photography, which largely subscribes to the Western canon, a reductive image of the Islamic world is still dominant, and exacerbated by the photographic coverage of pivotal events in the 20th and 21st century.

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A haboob, or sandstorm, followed by a thunderstorm, rolls across the Meroë pyramids, Sudan, during a visit by a group of schoolchildren organized by “For Education” local youth volunteers on August 3, 2021.

“For Education” aims to enhance learning opportunities for local communities and recently added new programming to include visits to Sudan’s rich archeological sites. © Nichole Sobecki / VII.

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This project will situate Qatar at the heart of a giant global project of international significance and create something that has never been realized at this scale before. The project will exceed the Family of Man, and be exhibited in Qatar Museums before embarking on a global tour of leading cultural institutions. The collection will be archived in Qatar later and made available to scholars worldwide. Major grants, awards and residences will be given to the practitioners involved, including established artists and emerging new talents, with an emphasis on artists from the Arabian Gulf countries and the Middle East region.

The project will require situating The VII Foundation staff in Qatar, and working with a significant curatorial and creative team to produce a massive and important visual project. The making of the project will provide opportunities to educate curators, designers, photographers and other cultural and visual practitioners, and engage in a multi-disciplinary cultural project in collaboration with scholars and cultural players across the world.

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Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 2022. © Ziyah Gafic / VII.

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Research A substantial research period in collaboration with Islamic cultural institutions and scholars using Qatar archives and contemporary digital archives. We anticipate a period of research of one year by a substantial team of researchers and research assistants.

Mourners gather in Tehran, Iran, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on June 5, 1989. © Eric Bouvet / VII.

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Muhammad Ali in action after his first-round knockout of Sonny Liston at St. Dominic’s Arena in Lewiston, Maine, on May 25, 1965. Photo by Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images.

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Acquire Given the intent to permanently house the exhibition and subsequently tour it, the acquisition or long-term loan of photographs is advisable. Vintage photographs could be permanently housed in Qatar, and contemporary photographs to be toured if necessary.

Women pose for a selfie as they get ready to go to work. Hengam Island, Iran. © Forough Alaei.

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Casablanca, Morocco. © Ziyah Gafic / VII.

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Assign It may be necessary to assign photographers to produce imagery that cannot be found in archives. A commissioning editor and assistant editor would oversee the assigning process over a period of six months.

Doha, Qatar. © Ziyah Gafic / VII.

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Youth emigration is one of the major problems facing the oases of southern Morocco.

Hicham, seen here, emigrated to France, and after a year and several difficult and poorly paying jobs, he decided to return to Morocco. To his surprise, no one, including family, encouraged him.

Today, Hicham is a fulfilled young man, happy to be in Morocco. He lives in Agadir and works for an association that helps poor and homeless children. © M’hammed Kilito / VII.

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Curate A curatorial process with a target date in Qatar for 2027 is ambitious but realizable and would necessitate adequate human resources in the research phase. A curatorial team would work for a period of 6 months on editing and curating the final outcome.

Survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami pray in a mosque, the only structure left standing in Lampuuk village after the disaster, in Lampuuk, Indonesia, in Dec. 2004. The tsunami devastated Aceh province, claiming thousands of lives and destroying entire communities. © John Stanmeyer / VII.

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A young boy holds a pigeon that was brought to market for sale in Tabriz, Iran, on August 10, 2015. © Farshid Tighehsaz for the VII Mentor Program.

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Outcome 610 photographs from 57 countries in form of an exhibition, an online portal, a book, and a significant education program.

Family and friends bid farewell to the bodies of journalists Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, Jan. 7, 2024, in Rafah, Gaza. The journalists, Hamza AlDahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, were reportedly killed when their car was bombed after reporting from an airstrike on a building in Gaza. Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images.

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Mali. © Malick Sidibe.

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Relatives put silk on the groom’s neck to congratulate him on the marriage. The groom is the center of attention during the wedding; music and dance happen around him while the bride waits inside the home to be brought out for a brief moment. Xinaliq village. July 2009. © Rena Effendi/ VII.

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View of Baku, Presidential Palace and the Flame Towers from the medieval Shirvanshah’s Palace in the Old City.

Baku, Azerbaijan. June 2016. © Rena Effendi / VII.

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Princess Salma bint Abdullah, the first female jet pilot in the Jordanian Armed Forces. Photo by the Royal Hashemite Court.

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