#shibam

Shibam - This ~1,700-year-old walled city in Yemen is considered to be the oldest vertically constructed city in the world. Its trapezoidal buildings (most were built in the 16th century) are made of mud bricks and need constant maintenance due to rain and wind erosion.

Ivan Andersen — Shibam  (oil, acrylic, spray paint on plywood panel, 2021)

Shibam Wadi Hadhramaut Yemen.jpg

S H I B A M

Did you know the oldest skyscrapers in the world can be found in the city of Shibam, Yemen? Let's take this ancient middle-eastern city and composite with other splendid places, like Arches National Park or next to the sea, and thus produce a fanciful image. By Midjourney.

It has taken a while to print, sign, and curate but here is 'Panorama, Shibam', an etching made during and after lockdowns, and finally printed at Portland Bay Press. It's nearly 90cm wide over three panels, and shows the fabulous mudbrick city of Shibam in Yemen. Once described by the remarkable explorer and Arabist Freya Stark as 'the Manhattan of the desert' I was lucky enough to visit Shibam in 2005, but didn't expect it would take 17 years to turn the drawing into a print. #etching #printmaking #portlandbaypress #shibam #yemen #mudbrick #mudbrickarchitecture #arabia #freyastark #manhattanofthedesert #intaglio #art @portlandbaypress @juliastreetcreativespaceinc (at Raleigh Street Studios) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnnKijbBg5M/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Jember, 5 November 2021

The city of Shibam, in the desert of Ramlat al-Sab'atayn, known for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings. It was the capital of the Hadramawt Kingdom and one of the three major cities of the Qu'aiti Sultanate. Yemen, 1941. Photographer unknown.