a visual journal of maldives

A wall with graffiti. This is the wall of the house opposite where I live in Male’. It is not the sky in the background but a four-storey residential building painted sky blue. photo: mw 2005

Shop window: a child mannequin advertising children’s clothing, Male’ 2005. photo: mw

Campaign logo for Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra), present MP for Male’, representing the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party. Photo: mw, 2005

Billboard advertising Maldivian tuna products, Male. Photo: mw 2005

Characters from the Hollywood animated film Shark Tale painted on the wall of a house on the street where I presently live in Male’. It is quite likely that this image was painted as part of the decorations during the circumcision of a young boy in the house. Sometimes, similar imagery is also painted on the walls of houses, both on the outside wall as well as part of the interior decoration for birthday parties of children.

Since TV came in the late 1970s, and later VHS, VCDs and now DVD players and satellite/cable TV, most Maldivian children grow up with various international children’s characters such as Nemo, Tom and Jerry, Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc. as their favourite sources of entertainment Photo: mw 2005

An oil painting by Nina Manik. Nina is a self-taught artist and has been painting now for a number of years. Painting is not an indeginous art form to the Maldives, nor was it introduced by a colonial power like in India or Sri Lanka where the British introduced the art form together with the gallery system. In the Maldives, a gallery was first opened in the 1980s by a group of private individuals whose objectives were to revive the local crafts and arts culture that was being eroded at a rapid speed due to globalisation and the country opening up to outside influences through tourism. Photo: mw, 2005

An acrylic painting of a lagoon and beach for sale, outside a souvenir shop in Himmafushi, Male’ Atoll, October 2005. Since the onset of tourism in the early 1970s, several painters have emerged in the country whose primary production includes paintings, on canvas, t-shirts, fabric, mugs, tiles, etc. Almost all these works depict natural scenaries of the Maldives. Sometimes they are of underwater scenes. Photo: mw

‘Maldives Sarongs’ on display outside a souvenir shop in Himmafushi, Male’ Atoll, 01 October 2005. Sarongs are a popular souvenir item in Maldives. These sarongs are almost always printed abroad - in Thailand, India, etc. But some souvenir artists do screen print similar items in Male’. And even if they are printed abroad, often teh designs are produced by Maldivian artists. Photo mw 2005

A painted wall on the island of Himmafushi, Male’ Atoll, advertising an artist/souvenir maker’s studio. 01 October 2005 photo: mw