Ramesh Shukla

A well-respected photographer and artist, Ramesh Shukla’s photographs have previously been published in The UAE – Formative Years 1965–75 and United Arab Emirates – The First 30 Years. His photographs are frequently exhibited in the Emirates and around the world. Born in Ahmedabad, India, in 1938, he started developing a fascination with photography at the age of 14 when his father gave him a Rolleicord camera as a birthday gift. In 1965, a group of friends who admired his photography invited him to Dubai. He stayed for two months and the pictures he took then are amongst the most important in his collection today. His timing was perfect. The coastal sheikhdoms were developing at an astonishing rate and were shortly to unite into the United Arab Emirates. Shukla’s photographs now represent one of the most comprehensive photographic historical records of the country’s foundation and progress.