Lawrie Shabibi is pleased to present Everyman’s Mountain, the inaugural solo exhibition by Emirati artist and designer Omar Al Gurg (b. 1995, UAE). The exhibition presents a compelling series of photographs which documents Kilimanjaro’s striking ecological diversity, captured through Al Gurg’s attentive and empathetic gaze during a six-day journey in 2021. His work offers a nuanced exploration of the mountain as a living, evolving ecosystem shaped by natural forces and human presence.
Al Gurg’s mission was to fill a visual gap – Kilimanjaro’s complex environmental zones remain underrepresented in contemporary photography. His images reveal the mountain’s layered habitats, from mist-laden forests and regenerating moorlands affected by recent fires, to the fragile ice caps near the summit. Throughout the journey, Al Gurg and a group of hikers were supported and outnumbered by a team of porters, whose vital role underscores the communal and human dimension of this often solitary narrative. His deliberate pauses to document subtle details – light filtering through foliage, the resilience of new growth, shifting cloud formations – reflect a profound attentiveness that transcends the physical challenge.
At the heart of Everyman’s Mountain lies a meditation on scale and significance. Al Gurg’s experience reveals the mountain as a site where human presence feels both essential and insignificant, a reminder of our fleeting impact against enduring natural cycles. The photographs quietly confront environmental urgency – melting ice caps, forest fire scars and the delicate balance of Kilimanjaro’s ecosystems – inviting viewers to reflect on their own relationship to nature and collective responsibility.
This exhibition marks the beginning of Al Gurg’s ongoing project to document Kilimanjaro’s changing landscape, with a publication in progress. Everyman’s Mountain is not about conquest but about process: the act of seeing, appreciating and bearing witness. It is a visual testament to resilience, vulnerability and the quiet beauty found in the mountain’s every detail, encouraging us all to engage with the natural world through a lens of humility and stewardship.
Omar Al Gurg (b. 1995, UAE) is a Dubai-born artist whose photographic practice is shaped by a lifelong engagement with the medium. Raised in a family of photographers, Al Gurg began developing film and capturing images from an early age, cultivating a self-taught approach that privileges observation and attentiveness. His early subjects – nature and strangers encountered in daily life – reflect a quiet curiosity and sensitivity to the world around him.
For Al Gurg, photography is a meditative practice, distinct from his background in design, yet both disciplines inform his creative outlook. His images are marked by a deliberate focus on detail and atmosphere, often pausing to document fleeting moments of light, resilience and transformation within the landscape.
narratives and subtle ecological changes, inviting viewers into spaces of reflection and contemplation. He is also the founder of the design studio Modu Method, which informs his broader interest in accessible, thoughtful design.
Omar Al Gurg’s work has been shown in exhibitions including Among The Pillars with Vacheron Constantin, Dubai Mall, Dubai, UAE (2024); Artists in Flux by GUCCI X NOMAD, Skooni Villa, Dubai, UAE (2024); Majlis Fann in collaboration with BMW, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2024); Downtown Design, Dubai, UAE (2023, 2022); Sikka Art and Design Festival, Dubai, UAE (2022); Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah, UAE (2022); UAE Designer Exhibition, Downtown Design, Dubai, UAE (2021); and The Path at 1971 Design Space, Sharjah, UAE (2021). In 2024, he also curated the fifth edition of the UAE Designer Exhibition, presenting over 30 UAE-based designers.
Press release from Lawrie Shabibi
Image: Omar Al Gurg. Forest – 001. 2021. Archival print on cotton rag. 83.3 x 125 cm. Image courtesy of the Artist and Lawrie Shabibi
