Inspired by urban landscapes and themes of belonging, home, and identity, Camille Zakharia obtained a degree in civil engineering from the American University of Beirut in 1985, at the height of the Civil War. It was during this time that Zakharia acquired his first camera, a Canon AE1, which he used to document his surroundings; the scarred buildings, and random residues of war. Fleeing Lebanon, he lived in various countries, including Canada, where he studied fine art at NSCAD in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and further developed his practice of photography, photomontage, and collage. Since 1999 his home has been the island of Bahrain, which he explores in weekly walks with his medium-format Rolleiflex camera.

Coastal Promenade (1996–2012) is a series of photographs originally commissioned by Bahrain’s Ministry of Culture for its first pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in 2010. Titled Reclaim, it was awarded the Golden Lion for best national participation. The project documents fishermen’s huts that once dotted the island’s coast. Solitary huts of varying constructions stand seemingly abandoned or neglected. As markers of history, these fragile, makeshift structures bear witness to transient cultures and economies—and the changing nature of humankind’s relationship to the sea. Development and land rehabilitation projects along the coastline made the huts obsolete; they were demolished shortly after Zakharia took the photographs.

Mirroring the emptiness of the coastal series, Al Bar (2010–16) captures the island’s interior. The images follow the seasonal transformation of the desert in Bahrain from November to March, when inhabitants take advantage of cooler temperatures to fleetingly reconnect with the land. The photographs show the campsites that they leave behind, along with the vestiges of social gatherings: tents bleached by the sun, burnt wood from bonfires, furniture arranged to form a majlis seating arrangement, and dried-out plants. Consumer artifacts such as cars, toys, and electronics feature prominently in an otherwise arid landscape. Zakharia’s The Mountain My Neighbor (2024), which was commissioned for the 2024 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, documents the expansion of the city into the surrounding landscape. During a several-week stay in Riyadh, the artist was intrigued by the dramatic constellations he discovered between new constructions and the rocky terrain, which he captured in this typological series.