By Sekka
When 28-year-old conceptual photographer Ali Al Sharji was invited to take part in an art exhibition celebrating the anniversary of the formation of the Black Panther Party in New York, he says that he knew that, ‘as an Afro-Arab, I needed to talk about something that would speak to me and for those who share the same ethnic background, yet relates to the black power for it to fit the exhibition theme.’ The result was From Home to Home, a photography series by the Omani national that reimagines the forced mass migration of Afro-Arabs, including his own family members, from Zanzibar to Oman in the 1960s and 1970s, as a result of the 1964 Revolution that led to the bloody overthrow of centuries of Omani rule, and the massacre of those of Arab origins, amongst others.
From Home to Home by Ali Al Sharji. Image courtesy of Ali Al Sharji.
‘Arabs who lived in Zanzibar had to seek ways to come back home and escape the violence and manhunt,’ says Al Sharji, which he describes was difficult given that Zanzibar was the only home some had ever known, even though their family origins were historically Omani. Many drowned trying to escape by sea. ‘Today, many of our elders have stories of how they almost never made it back home [to Oman], and some tell stories of how much they have suffered and lost. Many have also suffered because they had to start their lives from scratch and build their way to the top.’
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