Photographer Ishaq Madan’s 2021 image of Bahraini skateboarders went viral when it was picked up by New York’s MoMA. Today, his practice is more cinematic.

With his ghutra afloat, agal suspended in midair, and arms outstretched like wings, the skater in Shabab Al Mustaqbel became an overnight viral sensation when his image was shown in New York City subway stations in 2022. It was not his identity that captured people’s imagination but what he represented. In a single frame, Bahraini photographer Ishaq Madan had captured the raw and sometimes rebellious energy of youth in an often-misunderstood culture.

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