Breaking down cultural barriers with photographs

Dubai: In a bid to change distorted views of the Middle East, Dubai-based photojournalist and news anchor Hermoine Macura is showcasing her photographs of the region she knew. The exhibition opens in Washington DC on Wednesday.

A selection of Macura's photos from her book, Faces of the Middle East, feature in an exhibition organised by Bridges of Understanding, a non-profit, non-political organisation dedicated to supporting projects and efforts that foster a better understanding between Americans and people in the Arab world.

"What Faces of the Middle East aims to do is to take down the stereotypes and barriers between the East and the West, basically to help people communicate better and create dialogue," Macura told Gulf News.

The stereotypical images and views of the Arab world portrayed by the Western media have painted a negative image of people in the region.

"I think many people misunderstand the Arab world. So they think that it's mostly terrorists, workers, whatever you like. And those stereotypes have caused a lot of friction between the East and the West," Macura said.

"That's only making about ten per cent of the population. You have another 90 per cent which is normal people, they obviously want peace, they have families, they want to send their kids to school. Everybody obviously wants to have diplomatic relations," she added.

Faces of the Middle East, which took seven years to complete, contains 150 photographs taken during Macura's reporting duty in the 2000s. What started as a hobby grew into something bigger than a personal project, Macura said. She was able to take around 10,000 pictures of people from various ethnic groups in places that are rarely heard of or seen by the media.

"There are some city shots, but in general I like to get outside the city for the places that people have not seen. And also, they make up the majority of the country. You don't necessarily see the true culture in the main part of the city. When you go outside of the city, that's when you begin to experience it," Macura said.

Faces of the Middle East is a non-political and non-religious book.

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