Slave New World
Alexander Shields (2008 – 2011)
These photographs document the migrant worker community that exists in the Gulf region, focusing on Doha, Qatar. With the government keen to build up the infrastructure of the city, there has been huge a rush of development in the last decade – enabled by approximately 550,000 non-citizen workers on temporary contracts with limited rights. They make up well over half of the country’s total population, but have very little contact with Qatari citizens. The majority of these employees live in compounds, away from their families, and spend their days working in conditions of up to 50°C, even through the occasional sandstorm. Call it globalisation or modern day slavery, here are the ignored and forgotten faces that are constantly working to put Doha on the map.