From Mohammed Abdu Muhtasib’s gallery, Women, Stories in Pictures, The good old days captures two girls at play in a Bahraini heritage village, while a third stands quietly by a doorway, dressed in traditional attire, evoking a gentle echo of the past.
Xposure 2026 spotlights slow photography and lived experience
At Xposure’s 10th edition, five photographers reveal how lived experience shapes stories
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Joshua Holko’s gallery Antarctica, White Silence features three stages, capturing Emperor penguin life on Antarctic sea ice — from chick to juvenile to adult — tracing a powerful cycle of survival, resilience and growth.
Joshua Holko
Dubai: As it marks its 10th edition, the Xposure International Photography Festival is shifting focus from instant imagery to lived experience. Held from January 29 to February 4 at Aljada, Sharjah, Xposure 2026 unfolds under the theme A Decade of Visual Storytelling, asking a fundamental question: where does photography truly begin?
This year’s programme highlights slow photography — work shaped over time through observation, presence and trust. Five photographers from around the world anchor the anniversary edition, presenting exhibitions rooted in long-term engagement rather than fleeting moments. Through exhibitions, talks and workshops, Xposure 2026 reaffirms photography as a powerful form of sustained visual witness.
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Mothers of Mu Cang Chai captures a tender hillside moment in Vietnam, where a mother lifts her child in golden light as another sits nearby, calm and watchful, her vibrant traditional dress radiating strength and timeless connection to the land.
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From Joshua Holko’s gallery Antarctica, White Silence, Fortress captures a monolithic iceberg rising under stormy Antarctic skies, its towering walls carved by wind and time, evoking the power and permanence of ice.
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From Kiana Hayeri’s gallery No Woman’s Land, this image shows 700 girls studying the US curriculum in English at a private institute in Kabul, under strict security and enforced silence.
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From Kiana Hayeri’s gallery No Woman’s Land, this image tells the story of Muska, 14, who returned from Pakistan where she went to school and is now barred from continuing her education in Afghanistan.
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From Greg Lecoeur’s gallery Mediterranean, An Ocean of Life, this image highlights the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a familiar coastal species increasingly disturbed by human activity such as noisy watercraft, reckless approaches and underwater construction.
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From Greg Lecoeur’s gallery Mediterranean, An Ocean of Life, this image features the loggerhead sea turtle, the Mediterranean’s most common marine turtle, which travels thousands of kilometres between its nesting and feeding grounds.
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From Carol Allen-Storey’s gallery Defying the Myth, this image shows Maria in hospital as her mother kisses her in reassurance while an anaesthetic mask is placed on her face. Maria, who has Down syndrome, is on the autism spectrum and has lived with a colostomy bag since infancy, as doctors investigated unexplained abdominal pain.
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From Carol Allen-Storey’s gallery Defying the Myth, this image shows Kallan at a local pet shop in Bury St Edmunds, captivated by tropical fish. Diagnosed on the autism spectrum at 18 months after becoming non-verbal, he now communicates confidently and is highly social, supported by his mother Nicola’s devoted guidance.
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