It was in 2023, at the Xposure International Photography Festival, that the seeds of collaboration were sown. Walking among the exhibitions, His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of Sharjah Media Council, and an avid photographer himself, stopped at a striking digital installation by Dutch artist Marcel van Luit. As their conversation deepened, centred on process, craft, and the role of imagination, the idea arose to merge His Highness’s photographs with van Luit’s distinctively surreal visual language.

The fifth edition of Sharjah’s Xposure International Photography Festival showed the power of photography to make real and lasting change and the impact of a story well told.

Taking a look back at some highlights of last year. This is a round up of the best and most powerful images at Xpsoure photography festival in Sharjah. In dark times, photography has great power.