Back in the 80s, when you say “Middle East” it immediately conjures images of the desert, oil riggs, construction, 24carat gold, strict Arab masters and of course, our lonely OFWs. The Gulf war in the 90s and 9-11 terrorist attacks didn’t seem to improve that image much, but that didn’t stop the diaspora of pinoys in this region, especially the “open” city of Dubai.
See, I had been warned about Dubai, fake, pretentious, boring and removed of any of real soul, but lately I’ve been finding myself checking-in at more and more good art and music venues enough to make me reconsider.
Today a new cultural movement is emerging from the underground, and with that a new breed of talented pinoys are again at the forefront. We caught up with one of them one night, Filipino artist Darwin Gueverra, while he was working on this huge graffiti in some 5-star hotel’s parking lot along with other international artists who flew in for the occasion.
*cool photos courtesy of Brutal Grace
See, I had been warned about Dubai, fake, pretentious, boring and removed of any of real soul, but lately I’ve been finding myself checking-in at more and more good art and music venues enough to make me reconsider.
Today a new cultural movement is emerging from the underground, and with that a new breed of talented pinoys are again at the forefront. We caught up with one of them one night, Filipino artist Darwin Gueverra, while he was working on this huge graffiti in some 5-star hotel’s parking lot along with other international artists who flew in for the occasion.
We went further inside, a world-famous DJ was playing, the cool crowd was trickling in and as we took a seat in the gutter with our beers, we thought to ourselves - well look at that, Dubai is not what it used to be. Ironically, despite its array of swanky places, it was there in that parking lot that night that we stumbled upon the city’s real pulse, faint but alive and definitely a sign of good things coming.
*cool photos courtesy of Brutal Grace
