Mentropolis

Upon my arrival in the United Arab Emirates one of the first things to catch my attention were the massive amounts of men that dominated the streets. In fact, within my first few hours after landing, I started shooting frames of this new found interests. Unknowingly, some of these images would later be edited into my ongoing essay Mentropolis.

That said, I recently updated this project with new images. To see the complete series, visit my website. 

Synopsis: 

Currently, the population of the United Arab Emirates has a skewed sex distribution consisting of more than twice as many males as females. The 15-65 age group has a male/female sex ratio of 2.743. The UAE’s gender imbalance is only surpassed by other Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region. 

Although the United Arab Emirates has one of the most diverse populations in the Middle East roughly 50 percent of the UAE’s population is from South Asia while 23 percent of the population are non-Emirati Arabs or Persians. The population of the UAE currently stands at six million. This comprises both Emiratis and expatriates. Much of the recent rise in this figure is attributed to the rapid  increase in the expatriate community. 

More specifically, South Asian working class men have been lured to the UAE for the economic opportunities and the standard of living it can provide. These men typically reside from countries such as India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Like many professional Western expatriates these men hope to better their lives and those of their family members.