Poetic Symmetry
Photographer Ishaq Madan’s 2021 image of Bahraini skateboarders went viral when it was picked up by New York’s MoMA. Today, his practice is more cinematic.
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
SHABAB AL MUSTAQBEL
In a single frame, Ishaq Madan had captured the raw and sometimes rebellious energy of youth in an often-misunderstood culture. The photograph became an overnight viral sensation when his image was shown in New York City subway stations in 2022.
With his ghutra afloat, agal suspended in midair, and arms outstretched like wings, the skater in Shabab Al Mustaqbel became an overnight viral sensation when his image was shown in New York City subway stations in 2022. It was not his identity that captured people’s imagination but what he represented. In a single frame, Bahraini photographer Ishaq Madan had captured the raw and sometimes rebellious energy of youth in an often-misunderstood culture.
The idea for the photograph was planted a year earlier when Madan was studying at Nottingham University in the UK. He read that back home a street in Madinat Isa, in the northeast of the island, had been renamed Bahraini Youth Avenue.
“I immediately saw the photograph I wanted to take,” Madan says. “When I returned home, I reached out to some friends, and we headed to the avenue. It was fun; we were hanging out, waiting for sunset as it was during Ramadan, and I shot a few images. They came out exactly as I imagined. It felt like I was a director filming a movie and everything clicked into place.”
ODD ONE OUT
When shooting at Bahrain National Museum, Madan was inspired by childhood visits. Using a tripod, he photographed himself in playful poses, utilising the shadows and patterns at the museum to create cinematic images.
The incongruity of skateboarders in Gulf national dress against the backdrop of a sign that reads “Bahraini Youth”, and the long shadows of late afternoon, was a dream combination. When Madan posted it on Instagram, he used the hashtag #MoMAPhotoClub, an open call for submissions from New York’s Museum of Modern Art. To his surprise, a few months later the image was selected and posted on the museum’s social channels, website and on digital screens in New York City subways. He began receiving messages from across the region. Members of Bahrain’s royal family posted of their pride in seeing a slice of the island on display in New York.
“When I found out I was mind blown,” Madan says. “It felt surreal, and it was also super important because I was reflecting a different side to our culture.” The success of this photo reveals a part of Madan’s practice he calls “fishing”. He composes the frames he wants to capture in his imagination and then searches for them in the world around him. “It gives you a focal point, like a fisherman who stays in a single place for hours to catch a single fish,” he explains. “In the case of Shabab Al Mustaqbel I caught a big one.”
BITTERSWEET SUMMER, 2022
The pink flesh of the watermelon draws the eye to this roadside scene, which Madan spotted during a summer drive. The colour palette, symmetry and quirky style is reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film still.
TWO SCOOPS
The Sakhir desert region of western Bahrain was once a popular picnic spot, luring intrepid ice-cream vendors. Madan’s framing of this lone van against the scoop-shaped mountain is both incongruous and humorous.
The photograph was also the end of a phase of his practice during which he searched for social-media friendly, potentially viral, images. After that, he moved deliberately into the poetic, cinematic style that he is known for today. “I am now more interested in liminal spaces where there are traces of human interaction and where shape, form and shadow play a role,” he says. “I’m also interested in capturing the fragility of memory, and documenting not just moments but eras that will disappear into history.”
This is most fittingly captured in Odd One Out, a mini-series Madan shot in Bahrain National Museum in May 2022. Using a tripod, he set up frames where angles and shadows made interesting patterns with the pale travertine marble building against a washed-out sky. Madan himself appears in playful poses, something that continues to define his practice but is also derived from his conceptual narrative. “The sense of curiosity in the images is symbolic of childhood but also references the school trip to the museum that every Bahraini child experiences. When I went to the museum to photograph it, I was trying to interact with this collective memory, which is almost a rite of passage for children of my generation.”
BA6EK ALMA7ELI, 2023
Shot for a campaign to relaunch Bahrain’s farmers market, this local farmer sits atop a tower of chairs, reflecting Madan’s playful style as well as a reverence for farmers as the backbone of society.
UNTITLED, 2024
Every Friday since the war in Gaza began, the Bahraini Society Against Normalization has organised protest marches. Madan describes this image, taken in January, as his “contribution to and support for the cause”.
Madan often speaks of intentionality behind his works, but this is not to suggest that he constructs his scenes, rather that he waits patiently for the scene that he has visualised. Instead of something forced, he considers himself having learned a fluidity to life that brings more poetic symmetry to his already cinematic photographs.
He is also passionate about showcasing the nuances of Bahraini life, which are so often unseen and misunderstood. “We are always in transition in Bahrain, socially, culturally and now even geographically as they try to expand the island with land-reclamation projects,” Madan says. “I often question the things that get lost when we change so quickly. Traditional architecture, cultures and even traditional ways of thinking are considered outdated.
“With my photography, I capture moments and traditions that change and disappear. I’m fascinated by the temporary nature of life and when I eventually publish a book, it will be my contribution to the cultural history of my home country.”
UNTITLED, 2019
Shot from a rickety rooftop over Manama Souq, this photograph captures both the density of the area and the dedication of the worshippers who fall silent for a few minutes each week during Friday prayers.
UNTITLED, 2021
Walking in Manama, the intensity of this game captured Madan’s attention: the player’s concentration, the texture of his gaffiyah, the detail of the brickwork and the opponent’s cigarette in the foreground.
