MADELINE MCGEHEE  |  Self-Representation in the Arabian Gulf 

Photographs

After Hours, 2006  Photograph

I really have no clue how to work a camera. I just fiddle with the thing until the pictures look like I want them to. I liken my photography to compulsive behavior rather than an artistic pursuit. This is how it happens: I get struck with inspiration. From this point on, I am no more than an instrument of my imagination. I spend the next few sleepless weeks painting walls, moving furniture, getting costumes, buying Astroturf, shining silver, stapling, gluing, demolishing, building until the scene looks the way I want it to. Then I harass my friends. They come over and we all get dressed up. I have a vague idea of how I want everyone to look and what I want to have happen in the pictures. But at this point, these photo/video shoots start to take a life of their own. When everyone is in costume and in the scene, they become part of the world and dictate the direction of the shoot. That is where the magic is when the world comes to life. It is the spark of all the collaborative creative energy coming together and becoming something otherworldly and fantastical. That is the energy that drives me and will always keep me coming back for more.

—Madeline McGehee  

   Contributor’s Notes
   Introduction: Self Representation in the Arabian Gulf
   Acknowledgments

   Ebtisam Abdul Aziz  |  Autobiography  
   Manal Al Dowayan  |  I Am
   Tarek Al Ghoussein  |  Blue 2007    
   Madeline McGehee  |  Photographs

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