MUSCAT, OCT 22
Under the auspices of Sayyid Saud bin Hilal al Busaidy, Governor of Muscat, the National Museum inaugurated the exhibition 'Reflections from the Not So Distant Past in Oman' by Eugene H Johnson, Director of the Unspoken Dialogue Organisation.
The exhibition showcases portraits and stories of Omanis from before 1970, taken from a two-volume book project commissioned by the Office of the Adviser to His Majesty the Sultan for Cultural Affairs and approved by the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos.
"Every time an old person passes away, a wealth of history goes with them," Johnson said, emphasising why he pairs photographs with oral narratives. "A person without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots. I hope young Omanis cherish these stories," he said.
His connection to Oman began in 1994 when the Ministry of Information invited him to document the people of Oman. He later returned in 1997 to teach at Sultan Qaboos University. He realised that many young people couldn't appreciate the nation's progress without understanding its origins. "The driving force behind this project was to give a gift to the Omani people," he noted. "I'm just a vessel — recording their stories and placing them in context." He added that the portraits are "not just faces," but windows into the lives people lived and the resilience they showed in the face of adversity.
Dr Abdulmonim bin Mansour al Hasani, a photography enthusiast, praised the exhibition for revealing the depth of portraiture as "the art of the soul." He said, "You can find a story and history behind each picture. Many of the individuals are in their sixties or seventies — they experienced the challenging years before 1970, and their faces tell that story."
Mirasol Delphin Johnson, Deputy Director of the Unspoken Dialogue Organisation, described the exhibition as the culmination of a twelve-year journey of listening first, then photographing. "This project belongs to the people of Oman," she said. "We spent many late nights with prints and stories so each image would reflect not just a face, but a life lived. We hope the younger generation will look at then and now — and feel proud of what Oman has become."
Tamas Dombovari, a photographer and lecturer at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Muscat, praised the exhibition for being "rich in a photographic sense" because "you don't just see a face — you read life stories." He added, "Even in a time when everyone can post portraits online, the story is what matters. These images help paint a broader picture of Oman in our minds."
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