The mini California in the oil fields of Saudi Arabia

The world’s largest oil and gas company, Aramco, is based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and its residential camp, built as a joint US/Saudi venture in 1933, provides homes for the 11,000 people, and their families, who work there. Now known as Saudi Aramco, this suburban landscape located in the Arabian Desert is an American community, designed to mimic the appearance of a typical Californian town and comes complete with copious palm trees and vast stretches of green lawn. It is linguistically and culturally quite westernised, and Islamic customs are followed to a much lesser extent than outside the compound.

Founded in the 1930s, Saudi Aramco was built after an agreement was made between the Standard Oil of California (SOCAL) and the Saudi government. Fast forward to the present day, photographer Ayesha Malik’s father was an employee of Aramco, meaning she grew up in the 22-and-a-half square mile camp. “Like other gated communities around the world, it has its own sets of rules and regulations,” she explains, adding that women are allowed to drive within the camp. She adds that when you retire or no longer work for the company, you must leave the compound, revealing that her father’s retirement is what fuelled her to turn her lens to the landscapes of her childhood. This journey is now documented in Aramco: Above the Oil Fields – published by non-profit organisation Daylight Books – a 152-page visual diary of Malik’s life in the community, compiled of archival pieces and documentary photographs mostly shot in 2016. 

“I don’t see anything wrong with maintaining your identity while also allowing a place to integrate new facets to it. In fact, I think doing so is the way we create community and bridges between cultures” – Ayesha Malik

Alongside the images, Aramco: Above the Oil Fields features an interview with Malik and Vice Media’s photo editor, Elizabeth Renstrom. In it, Renstrom asks Malik about the reasons for Americans creating their own community in a Saudi area, to which Malik responds: “The Americans did not come to colonise. They came to work, on Saudia Arabia’s terms, and they stayed because the company provided them with the comforts of home, and along the way, they also developed this warmth and love toward the comforts of Saudi Arabia”.

The book also portrays harmony between cultures, religions, and characters. Malik, concerned with connecting people together, says, “there is such a diverse range of people from Saudi Arabia and all over the world with so many different backgrounds, birthplaces, and religions.” She also suggests that introducing western cultures to this area of Saudi Arabia has helped connect opposing ways of life. “I don’t see anything wrong with maintaining your identity while also allowing a place to integrate new facets to it,” she explains. “In fact, I think doing so is the way we create community and bridges between cultures. I think it is beautiful for people to come together, evolve, and share cultures.”

Aramco: Above the Oil Fields is available now