MY STORY
Born in England to a Palestinian father and an English mother, I spent much of my life moving between different countries in Europe and the Middle East. This gave me an appreciation and an understanding of different peoples and cultures, which I feel is reflected in how I view and relate to this diverse world.
I learned my photographic craft during time in London, Stockholm and Dubai, working on both personal art projects for exhibition and for advertising and design agencies. Over the years I gradually found a style that I felt comfortable with, which spoke with the truth and emotion that I was seeking.
My art works have been widely exhibited and are included in several private art collections, including those of the Agha Khan, Bernard Arnault, the Hermes family, the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) USA, and members of Royal families in the Middle East and elsewhere.
I now live on a rural, organic farm in Galicia, north-western Spain, with my wife, and our family of Arabian horses and Saluki dogs. I continue to pursue new art projects and to exhibit regularly. I also teach photography and photogravure printmaking (photo-etching) courses in my 100-year old farmhouse studio.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
"There is a strange-making in much of Dajani’s work, a way of making perfectly ordinary things seem quite strange and extraordinary. Such work leaves the viewer feeling touched, moved, disturbed - leaves him or her with a whole complex of emotions and desperately wanting to know more. Most of my wondering is about Dajani’s falcons. I have never seen stranger or more beautiful photographs of birds than his."
John Wood, poet, photographic historian & editor
“Tariq Dajani is a photographer and printmaker. He is mostly known for his poetic portrait studies of the purebred Arabian horse and the hunting falcon. Beautifully observed and mastered, the work displays intellectual depth and classical realism. It is contemporary while invoking something of the European Masters.”
B Rowell, gallery owner, Jacaranda Images
A FEW LINKS ABOUT MY WORK
"Tariq Dajani" on Rfotofolio
“The Art of Filāḥa” by Collier Brown, Lensculture
"A thing of beauty", by Matthew Teller
"Photographic Studies of the Arabian Horse", Horse Times magazine
Caballo Árabe magazine (in Spanish)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2020
III International Mini Print Cantabria, Santander, Spain
The World is a handkerchief / El mundo es un pañuelo, Blackburn 20 |20 Gallery, NY, US
Drinkers of the Wind, Katara Arts Centre, Doha, Qatar
2019
Skin of the Print, Oxmarket Gallery, Chichester, UK
The World is a handkerchief / El mundo es un pañuelo, London Print Studio Gallery, UK
Kitab al-Filaha, Casa Árabe, Córdoba, Spain
Hikāyāt (stories), Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
Shadow and Light, Al-Mutanabbi Street project, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, UK
2018
Kitab al-Filaha, Impact10, Santander, Spain
Kitab al-Filaha, Casa Árabe, Madrid, Spain
Drinkers of the Wind, Showcase, Dubai
2017
Kitab Al-Filaha & La Alpujarra, Biblioteca de Andalucia, Granada, Spain
2015
Kitab al-Filaha, Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
2014
El Asil y El Noble, Kasser Rassu, Marbella, Spain
2013
SAQR, the hunting falcon, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
An Eye for an Ear, Photography Open Salon, ChinaHouse, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
2012
An Eye for an Ear, Photography Open Salon Arles, France
2011
SAQR, the hunting falcon, Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
2010
Playground, Lumas, Gallery, Köln, Germany
2009
Above Wadi Rum, Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
ASIL, the Arabian horse, The Empty Quarter, Dubai, U.A.E.
Three Dimensions, The National Museum of Bahrain, Manama
My Name is Robot, The Jam Jar, Dubai
2008
ASIL, the Arabian horse, DRC, Dubai, U.A.E.
ASIL, the Arabian horse, Zara Centre/ Jacaranda, Amman, Jordan
Arabhästen, Galleri Hippo, Stockholm, Sweden
Skin, Galleri Z:e, Stockholm, Sweden
Art Abode, XVA Gallery/Harvey Nichols, Dubai
(DIFC Installation), The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai
Creek Art Fair, XVA Gallery, Dubai
2006
International Color Awards (Fine Art Category) 1st Place)
Mind, EURO RSCG, London
2005
Capture, AoP Gallery, London, UK
2003
03, AoP Gallery, London, UK
2001
John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
AoP 18th Awards, Portrait Series, London
2000
Landmarks, AoP Gallery, London, UK
1999
Edge, AoP Gallery, London, UK
1994
Freedom Now, Photographers' Gallery, London, UK