'Photography Helps You Visualise Music': Bryan Adams On Dubai Debut Of His Iconic Portraits

There comes a point in a star's trajectory where the myth of the celebrity becomes bigger than the celebrity. At that point, the persona takes over the person, and the face left behind is merely the one consumed by audiences. To strip that persona away from the person becomes almost impossible - but if one manages to do it, magic is created. The gaze, however, must be simple, uncomplicated, fuss-free... because even the celebrity, beyond the myth, yearns to be seen.

And when you look at Bryan Adams' photography, that's exactly the feeling you're left with - the feeling of being seen. Even though the subjects in question are some of the most iconic figures of their time. Whether it's the late Amy Winehouse and her iconic bangs doing all the talking with a childlike playfulness across her barely visible face, or Mick Jagger saving his finest moves for Adams' lens, the photographs carry a kind of iconicity embedded in their visual grammar - not only because of who is in front of the camera, but also because of who is behind it. What emerges in frame is the collision of these two worlds and, for the viewer, the result is a deeply intimate gaze. The sense of being right there in the room as the photograph was captured.

Adams has long been the man behind the music. Now, for the first time in the region, he steps behind the lens. In collaboration with JD Malat Gallery, #SHOTBYADAMS, a new volume of his portraiture work from the past 10 years, following the release of Exposed in 2012, makes its Middle East debut in Downtown Dubai.

From Queen Elizabeth II and the Dalai Lama to Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, the book features nearly 200 photographs of the who's who from the worlds of music, films, fashion and beyond. Drawing from a life lived in the spotlight, Adams' portraits cut through the myth of the celebrity to reveal something raw, intimate, and deeply human. Think Andy Warhol's legacy, but through a contemporary prism, preserving the rawness and simplicity of figures today's generation knows mostly through nostalgia. As Giorgio Armani writes in his foreword for Adams' book,“Finally, I like that all this is as simple for Bryan as the straightforward title he has chosen for this book, which encompasses a series of unique images: 'Shot by Adams.'”

For his Middle East debut, the Canadian singer-songwriter experiments with plexiglass layers that refract and distort, transforming familiar images of cultural titans into portraits that resist the clichés of celebrity and invites us to look again - and look deeper. Ahead of the exhibition, we spoke with the music legend himself, who took us behind the scenes of some of his most memorable shoots. Brief though his responses may be, the honesty mirrors the spirit of his music - enduring, raw, and continuing to reclaim space in people's hearts, generation after generation.

Excerpts from an interview with Bryan Adams:

How did your tryst with photography begin? Can you take us back to the very first photograph you remember taking and what that moment revealed to you?

Bryan Adams: My uncle used to work at Ilford Film and would send black-and-white film for us to try out. I was the only one in the family who used them - sometime in the '70s. Honestly, I can't remember what my very first photograph was.

Did photography allow you to express something music did not?

BA: Somewhere along the way, while working with creatives making album covers, I got excited about the [photography] process, and the more people I worked with, the more excited I got. I got to the point where I decided I wanted to try it myself. Photography doesn't replace music. It helps you visualise what you're gonna do with the music you've written. The right arm helps the left arm.

Nostalgia is a recurring theme in your music. Does that sentiment also seep into your photography?

BA: Sentiment is more prevalent in my songwriting than in my photography. I'm more about looking forward than looking back behind the lens.

You're known for your love of black-and-white photography. What does monochrome allow you to capture that colour cannot?

BA: There's something iconic and timeless about black-and-white images. Colour can sometimes date a photograph.

In Exposed (2012), you photographed icons like Amy Winehouse, Mick Jagger, and Lindsay Lohan. Did photographing them reveal sides of them you hadn't known before? Any name or moment that still stays with you?

BA: Mick is the best person to photograph, as you can imagine. He even brought great music to play during the shoot.

I remember a funny story with Amy, who I didn't know at the time. I only knew her music. Anyway, she arrived at the studio and the stylist had brought some clothes for her to try on because it was a fashion story. I suggested that she try this Armani dress. She said she wasn't gonna wear that. After a bit of gentle persuasion, she tried it on, did the photograph, and took the dress home with her.

The art of portraiture has transformed dramatically since your celebrated portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Today, we live in the age of selfies...

BA: It's quite exciting. I did my most recent album cover on an iPhone!

In Wounded: The Legacy of War (2013), you captured British soldiers who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with life-altering injuries. What stayed with you most from those encounters?

BA: It's my anti-war document. We were lied to about weapons of mass destruction, we were told that Iraq was a threat, and the next thing you know, we're seeing men and women on the high street in wheelchairs, wounded for life. I can't imagine what horrors the Iraqi people must've gone through, because they didn't have the same medical technology that the British army had to save people. I'm grateful to all of the servicemen and women who sat in front of my camera for this book. It was humbling.

You continue to shoot contemporary icons with your #SHOTBYADAMS series. How does your upcoming solo exhibition in Dubai reflect a new chapter in your work?

BA: This series of photographs is a retrospective of the past 10 years of my work. I'm really proud of the book and, once again, very grateful to all the people who helped make each photograph so cool. Behind each singular shot there is a team - much like going on the road and performing, there's a team to help us get there.

In this exhibition, you explore 'seeing things through rose-tinted glasses', using multi-coloured plexiglass to create dreamlike screens. What inspired this experimentation?

BA: Exactly what the phrase says, but in a sense using multicolours, not just rose colours! I was inspired by the pop art movement of the '70s, using bold colours on black-and-white photographs. The plexiglass acts like a visual metaphor - refracting not just the subject, but our assumptions. It's about perception, distortion, and the beauty of seeing differently.

How does this style impact the relationship between subject and viewer?

BA: I like reimagining things in the same way I like creating things from nothing, which is what photography really is.

A lot of our social media world feels like living behind a filter, seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. Did that digital culture play into your inspiration at all?

BA: It was just an experiment at first, and it took off immediately. So, in a way, it had nothing to do with any kind of digital culture, it just comes from being inspired by art.

Why did you choose Dubai as the destination for your first solo exhibition in the Middle East?

BA: I was asked by JD Malat Gallery!

A whole generation has grown up with your music - from discovering it at 18 or younger, to now enjoying it as parents and even grandparents. What is the key to creating music that endures across time and generations?

BA: I'm not sure I have the answer to that question. I'm not sure any songwriter does. I write music for myself, and if I like it, I kind of feel like someone else might like it too.

Many fans say they remember their late parents through your songs - that your music connects them not just to the living, but also to loved ones who have passed. How do you respond to this deeply emotional relationship your audience has with your work?

BA: Music is a very powerful medium, it brings us and takes us to places, it soothes our soul, it inspires us to dance, it inspires us to reflect. A world without music would be a very lonely place.

Looking back at your dual legacy in both music and photography, what do you hope it will stand for?

BA: That you can come from nothing... and you can make people happy.

The exhibition runs until September 30 at JD Malat Gallery, Downtown Dubai, open Monday to Sunday from 10am to 10pm.

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