Lee Hoagland -Current Location: Between Abu Dhabi & Dubai Magenta Flash Forward 2010 College Photographer of the Year IPPA NPPA VII New York Tim

Essays: Paradise (on going)

This is an ongoing project documenting the daily life of laborers and the camps where they live in the UAE. These men are not allowed in the cities they've built. Instead camps have been erected on the outskirts of the country's glimmering sheikhdoms where they exist, undetected.

Their days consist of hopping on a bus to go to work, sleeping mid shift, returning to work, then going home. With very few recreational activities many of the men spend their time off resting, praying, and often day dreaming about their home lands. The general state of mind inside the camps revolves around the notion of delayed gratification: they work and dream of the moment when they can return to their native lands.

A laborer walks through the dreary streets of the ICAD labor camp, located in Mussafah, just outside of Abu Dhabi.
   
Moona Singh, an Indian laborer, picks up his clothes from a laundry line on the roof of a building at ICAD, a labor camp outside of Abu Dhabi. This is one of the few moments he has to himself throughout the day.
   
A laborer's glove lay crushed in the ground of a labor camp north of Sharjah.
     
  
In the sleepy city known simply as RAK, life goes on throughout the warm summer months. Not particularly rich in petrol, RAK has developed itself in other industries, among the most important is meal, more specifically, steel and aluminum. Bilal (left) and Mohammed, both from Bangladesh, work from 6 am to 1 pm and then from 3 pm to 8 pm, in this metal factory. They mold and carve the material into the ornamental objects one can see all around them. Their work makes up the backbone of RAK's metal economy.
  
"Hot! Very much hot!", exclaims Sulayman, an Indian cook. He continues to slug his way through yet another hot summer day. On top of the scorching heat outside, he must endure the kitchen flames. He walked up to the counter where dishes are put out for waiters, to get a bit of fresh air from the door on the opposite end of the room. Though it is boiling outdoors, the fresh air feels cool in comparison to a stove.
   
A day laborer sleeps on a piece of cardboard under the shade of a tree across from the ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) on 11th and 30th street. The heat of the Emirate sun is too much for anyone to handle all day long. Laborers are given a 3 hour break at mid day to recover. The man in this photo started at 7, worked until 12, breaked until 15, and wrapped up at midnight. Today is the last day that his mid day break is in effect for the summer even though temperatures are expected to be in the high 30's (celsius) for quite some time.
     
  
Saham Lam, an Indian laborer, is seen here in his bedroom at ICAD. He shares the room with 14 men, 2 fans, and one window.
   
A view from a bedroom inside of Mussafah's labor camp, ICAD. The average room houses 14 men, 2 fans, and one window. In the background is one of the many construction sites that the residents slave over on a daily basis.
   
A man is seen on the rooftop of a building inside of Mussafah's labor camp, ICAD, alone.
     
  
Two laborers walk across the sand paved roads of their camp at sunset.