I lived in the UAE with my wife for seven years, from 2014 to 2021, and that time changed how I see landscape, culture, and progress. As an artist, I was constantly inspired by the vast openness of the desert and the deep sense of history that sits quietly beneath the surface of everyday life. No matter how fast the cities grew, the land always felt present — steady, patient, and grounded.

What struck me most was how visible the connection still was to Bedouin roots. Camels weren’t just symbols; they were reminders of how life once moved across this land — slowly, deliberately, and in harmony with the environment. They were essential to survival, to travel, to trade. Watching the cities evolve around that history made me think about how progress doesn’t erase the past, it builds on it.

My work from this period reflects that idea. I began imagining the camel as part of the construction of the modern UAE — not disappearing as glass towers rise, but standing alongside them, even shaping them. In an abstract sense, the camel becomes the builder of the city: carrying tradition forward, modernised but not forgotten. This series is my way of expressing what it felt like to live in a place that was constantly changing, yet still deeply connected to where it came from.