WHARFAGE

<p>We write this almost exactly thirteen years after WHARFAGE was first published, as the world is slowly opening up again after a much more dramatic and consequential disruption of life than the 2007- 2009 Global Financial Crisis. At that time, there were stories of cars abandoned at Dubai airport by fleeing expats, but the creeks were alive with activity. We saw this as a reason to do the book. Last year, the creeks were empty, and now are slowly filling up again.</p> <p>Our desire in this book had been to create an account of what was transpiring between Sharjah creek, as an example of a Gulf “cheap port”, with low docking charges and a historical openness to the dhow trade, and Somali ports in particular. The bulk of the book, in a decision that was never really explained in the 2009 edition, was made of ship manifests. A full year of them. Well, everything that was officially on the manifest, that is. We once called this our own version of Gilles Deleuze’s “minor literature”, an artwork speaking in the major language of customs and state records, and a deterritorialisation of that language…</p> <p><em>This second edition of <em>Wharfage</em> was produced on occasion of <em>Passages through Passages</em>, an exhibition of key works by CAMP, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi. Organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, 4 March–4 July 2022<br /> Bait Al Serkal, Arts Square, Al Shuwaiheen, Sharjah</em></p>