CAMP: Wharfage

Overview

WHARFAGE is a one-of-a-kind maritime travelogue by artist studio CAMP, which explores the embodied labour and maritime movements between the creek of Sharjah, from where a large number of giant wooden ships built in the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat among other places, and to the semi-state entities of Somalia. The book consists primarily of shipping manifests which act as a series of "images" of the darkness of the hold, and a calendar of what travelled in particular directions, on the water. Accompanying the manifests is documentary photography as well as extensive annotations on images. The artist book traces old trade routes and also maps anew a contemporary landscape of used things, ‘break-in-bulk’ cargo, multiple diasporas, and sea-craft "going" – in the midst of the global financial crisis – "where no one else is going."

Edited by Shaina Anand, Nida Ghouse and Ashok Sukumaran, WHARFAGE is part of CAMP’s oceanic projects in the region that include Radio Meena (2009), The annotated "Gujarat and the Sea" (2011), The Boat-Modes (2012), Country of the Sea (2014) and the widely travelled film From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf (2009–2013). The book was originally published for Sharjah Biennial 9 (2009), where along with Radio Meena it was awarded the main jury prize. This 2nd edition is accompanied by a new reflective foreword by the artists, and published on occasion of "Passages through Passages", CAMP's 2022 solo with Sharjah Art Foundation.