Farah Al Qasimi's Red River Blues at MAST Photography Grant

Farah Al Qasimi (Abu Dhabi, 1991; lives between Dubai and Brooklyn) was a finalist in the seventh edition of the MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work, curated by Urs Stahel at Fondazione MAST in Bologna. Her project, Red River Blues (Dearborn), explores labor transformations in Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit suburb and historic home of Ford Motor Company. The title references the river enabling goods transport for the industrial complex, which also serves as a lifeline for the long-standing Arab community. Al Qasimi, who studied photography and music at Yale University (MFA 2017, Yale School of Art), combines her own reportage photos with internet-sourced images in a two-section exhibition: a classic photography section and a "studio wall" displaying both her images and found ones. The work traces shifts in labor divisions across generations, particularly regarding gender identity—domestic work historically linked to women, factory work to men. Al Qasimi emphasizes the fluidity of images and their meanings, the responsibility of photography as an information medium, and the importance of food as a cultural bridge for immigrant communities. The grant winner was Hicham Gardaf; Lebohang Kganye received a special mention; other finalists included Maria Mavropoulou and Salvatore Vitale.