H. a. lid Ibn H. amad Ibn Ah mad A. l. T. a. ni Livres

Throughout history, certain artists have attempted to produce definitive images of their chosen subjects. Be it Morandi's bottles and jars, the Bechers' industrial buildings or Giacometti's bronze figures, such artists consciously restrict their media and visions to transcend appearances. Khalid Al Thani (born 1980) works in this tradition to produce photographs that are icons of the little-seen Qatari desert. For more than a decade Al Thani has wandered the desert with his Leica, relentlessly photographing symbols of its desolate beauty: a falcon, an oryx, a Sidra tree, sand dunes, the night sky scattered with stars. Thousands of film rolls later, Al Thani has neared his goal, and this book presents the most recent images from his quest. The artist's "language without words" embodies his desire to recreate his immediate experiences of awe before a harsh but delicate terrain, and his larger desire to establish a unique Qatari photographic language.

Much of Qatar appears to be desert stretching in all directions – a seemingly lifeless landscape of low, barren sand plains and rolling dunes. Yet within this desolateness are signs of life and things of beauty which Al-Thani – who has perhaps examined the Qatari landscape more closely than any other photographer – reveals for the first time to an international audience. The photos in Here is My Secret were taken in 2008 and 2009, when Al-Thani traversed Qatar, his only companions a Toyota four-wheel drive and his Leica camera. Eschewing human change on the landscape, Here is My Secret is a poetic contemplation on nature and an illustration of the larger cultural transformation that Qatar is currently undergoing.