The north wing of the courtyard at
the
Al Jahili Fort is devoted to a permanent exhibition of black and white
photographs by the traveller Wilfred Thesiger entitled the ‘Mubarak Bin London
Exhibition’.
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| a captivating exhibition steeped in history |
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| which means 'Blessings from London' |
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| reflecting? |
Taken from Wikipedia and other sources: Sir Wilfred Patrick
Thesiger (3 June 1910 – 24 August 2003), also called Mubarak bin London (Arabic
for "the blessed one of London") was an English explorer and travel
writer.
Sir Thesiger is best known for two
travel books: Arabian Sands (1959), which recounts his travels in the Empty
Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life
of the Bedu; and The Marsh Arabs (1964), which is an account of the Madan, the
indigenous people of the marshlands of southern Iraq.
Sir Thesiger spent five years
exploring the Arabian Peninsula, but it was only in 1948, after his second
crossing of the Empty Quarter, that he rode to Al Ain and met Sheikh Zayed for
the first time.
The sheikh and the explorer – or
Mubarak bin London, as he was known to the Bedouin – soon became friends and Sir
Thesiger stayed for almost a month, hunting, riding and attending the daily
“sittings” during which the sheikh, who was then the ruler’s representative in
the eastern region, would arbitrate over local disputes.
Sir Thesiger recorded the
experience in a series of remarkable black-and-white photographs that form part
of the 71-volume Thesiger Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
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| long corridors |
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| among Sir Tresiger's treasured photos |
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| freedom of the desert |
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| photo of the fort? |
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| Sern can't get enough |
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| among his belongings |
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| the intrepid traveller |
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| travelling along a desolate path |
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| with hardly any vegetation |
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| watching a video (and while Sern watches us) |
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| Sern taking particular interest in this old Leica |
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| since he owns a Huawei P9 smartphone |
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| that bears the Leica brand as well |
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| long and cool corridor (both in temperature and constitution) |
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| Brendan in action |
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| this parts were known as the Empty Quarter back then |
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| a strange sight: water in the desert |
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| looking through a window through time |
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| they look vicious |
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| making our way out of the exhibition area |
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| but not before one final shot |
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