Projects

Here you will find some of the ongoing projects I have been working. Stay tuned...

"Workers" - June 2015

It was the summer of 2008, the buildup of the global financial crises when I made my first business trip to the Arabian Peninsula. As many before me, I was curious and a bit apprehensive about the region - so much bad press you hear on the news can get you pretty frightened. 

Flying from Houston, Texas I look over our forecasted business growth plans across the region. They were very aggressive, in spite of the approaching global economic rollercoaster we were about to endure. I could not help but notice that most of the labor growth: people - were expatriates. Where all these people will come from? I thought. I was soon to find out the answer was literally everywhere.

Now living in the Middle East for the past five years, I’ve learned to both appreciate and respect the people you don't usually see. Those often overshadowed by the world tallest skyscrapers, masked onto the allure of the fancy five start hotels, or out-shined by the bling effect of the excessive gold culture. The people behind the several collected titles of record-breaking achievements associated with the region, which regularly make the international headlines. The manpower (and woman-power too), that are the reliable engines, driving these bustling emerging cities to new heights. Those rarely remembered, often neglected otherwise when we decide to feel a bit more humanitarian.

Engineers made cashiers, teachers turned maids, farmers made into drivers fighting a daily battle for a simple, but usually taken for granted by the majority of us – right to survive. The skype parents, miles away from their loved ones, left to fend for themselves, pushed to unthinkable limits in this golden desert turned concrete-jungle. Souls determined to ensure a less challenging future for the ones, whose pictures they carry on their empty wallets.

The real and often only lifeline to the survival of countless, often way too many. Serving at times pure amusement, while powering the undreamt dreams of the ever-thirst desert nomads. The upcoming global player that never stops growing and is never short to impress, for as long as there is greedy and needy across the globe.

This project attempts to tell their story through a set of glasses, which not even with the greatest efforts could portrait the emotional hurdles of such a humble and noble journey. The lenses might freeze a moment, but never a memory of those enduring the hardship of feeling out of place, very far from the eyes but very close to the hearts. Throughout this photographic journey, I’m happy to share with you the tales of the “Workers” of the great Middle East.

Visit me on instagram, facebook and here to learn about my discoveries and developments in such an emotional photographic project.

Vidal Ferreira Photography