Photography has been many things throughout its lively 180 year old history – a tool for science and exploration, an instrument of documentation, a means of artistic expression, to tell stories and record histories and as a mode of communication and critique in our ever increasingly visual culture.

In a time when over 1.8 billion images get uploaded to the internet each day and the speed of their circulation is every increasing, in an age of false news and alternative facts, this exhibition explores the meaning of truth, reality and trust usually associated with the medium of photography. DO YOU TRUST ME? examines the power of the photographic image and the power of both artist and audience to shape meaning through deliberate artistic choices, preconceived ideas and social conditioning.

Participating artists

Asma Murad, Bader Al Balawi, Camille Zakharia, Enas Sistani, Ghada Khunji, Hanan Al Khalifa, Hesham Al Ammal, Janan Habib, Mai Al Moataz, Marwa Al Khalifa, Simon Impey, Tamara Pachachi, Wafa Al Ghatam

The project

The exhibition DO YOU TRUST ME? is the outcome of a six-month collaboration between the Shaikh Ebrahim Center and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region. DO YOU TRUST ME? is a photography project concept designed by the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with photography experts and curators with the aim of questioning the authenticity and reality traditionally associated with the medium of photography.