Mobeen Ansari’s first book, ‘Dharkan: The Heartbeat of a Nation’, was a portrait book about iconic people of Pakistan who shaped the country in their own ways. Although Miraas is like a sequel to it, it has a completely different set of people, and the approach to photography was different.
Mobeen has previously published two photography books. His first one, ‘Dharkan: The Heartbeat of a Nation’, features portraits of iconic people of Pakistan from all walks of life. His second book, ‘White in the Flag’, is based on the lives & festivities of religious minorities in Pakistan. The success of these books has led to a second printing being produced for both over the years as well as ‘Miraas’, a follow up from Dharkan, being a further showcase of more of Pakistan’s incredible heroes.
“I started working on Dharkan early in my career and my first shoots happened while I was in final year of college. Owing to budget and time constraints, I would sometimes end up photographing 2, sometimes 3 people in one day. This often gave me limited lighting and time to work from. However this gave me practice and a more conscious approach to taking portraits for Miraas. There are more elaborate images and lighting and background is much more taken into consideration. One thing that stands out is that I would photograph the same person twice, sometimes even years apart. My second book, White in the Flag, based on religious minorities is a completely different theme,” said Mobeen.
Mobeen Ansari is a photojournalist, filmmaker and speaker from Islamabad, Pakistan. After attaining his BFA degree from the National College of Arts, he started working in the field, telling stories of Pakistan and its people and promoting a diverse & poetic image of his country through his photos and films. As a photojournalist he focuses on human interest stories and has extensively worked on the topics of global health and migration.
He has exhibited in Pakistan and around the world, namely in the UK, Italy, China, Iraq, the US and UAE. His photographs have been displayed in many famous places, including Times Square in New York City. Mobeen has received numerous awards for his work, most recently becoming a recipient of the Swedish Red Cross Journalism prize for his photography on the story of the manufacture of footballs in Sialkot for the FIFA World Cup.