Bio: Sohail Karmani is a British photographer from London who currently resides in Abu Dhabi. He is a professor at New York University in Abu Dhabi with an academic background in applied linguistics and second-language education. He also has an interest in visual ethics, and currently teaches a first-year undergraduate course on 'Power and Ethics in Photography' and a core undergraduate course on 'Ethics of the Image'. He is the author of 'The Spirit of Sahiwal', a photography book published in 2019 by international art publisher, Skira Editore.

As a photographer, he has a keen interest in ‘people photography’ with a particular focus on travel, street and documentary photography. A key feature he strives to bring out in his photographs is an emotional connection between the subject and viewer. Colour, light, tonality, texture and mood often play an essential role in his workflow.

His passion for photography is primarily rooted in a fascination for human behaviour. He could quite happily sit all day at a café in a busy piazza somewhere sipping endless cups of tea while watching people go about their everyday business. Fundamentally, he is driven by a genuine interest in observing people: the characters, the way they dress, carry themselves, interact, the vibes they give off, what makes them tick, but most importantly what their ‘story' is. It’s those very facets of ordinary people going about their everyday lives that he's drawn to and tries to capture in his photographs.

In 2010, quite unexpectedly, he found himself setting foot for the first time ever in his father's hometown in Sahiwal, a city situated in the east-central Punjab province in Pakistan. Struck by how visually nourishing the experience was for him, he had an almost instant yearning to return and capture the vibrant colours, the warm afternoon sunlight, the fabrics and backdrops, but most of all the remarkable faces and stories that everyday Pakistanis carry around with them. The experience would turn out to be a defining moment in his career as a photographer.

Around 2015, he began working on what gradually developed into a five-year project to document everyday life in the district of Sahiwal. In 2016, his photographs of Sahiwal grabbed the attention of a distinguished panel of judges including renowned Italian photographer, Oliviero Toscani; photo editor for the Guardian, Caroline Hunter; and American photojournalist, Darcy Padilla. They selected him—among thousands of photographers across Europe—to participate in the second series of ‘Master of Photography’, a TV talent show that aired on Sky Arts in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Austria from the 25th May to 13th July 2017.

In 2017, CNN International ran an exclusive feature on his work about the lives of Indian fishermen at the Mina Zayed fishing harbour in Abu Dhabi. To date, his photographic work has featured in several publications among which The Times (UK), The Daily Mail (UK), Photo District News (USA), Il Fotografo (Italy), StayinArt (Austria), Kwerfeldein (Germany) and The National (UAE).

In 2019, his first photography book entitled ‘The Spirit of Sahiwal’ was published by international art publisher Skira Editore. The book, primarily portraits of the residents of Sahiwal, is a visual testimony of daily life as seen by him on several short-term visits to Pakistan.

In April 2020, his photographs of Sahiwal will be on display in a solo exhibition at the Spazio Kryptos gallery in Milan Italy.

In September 2020, his work will be featuring at Xposure, an annual international photography festival in Sharjah, UAE.

Sohail is open to suggestions for assignments in the area of travel photography, portraiture, documentary work and/or reportage (subject to availability). For related inquiries, you can contact him here.