The late Alain Saint-Hilaire Canada

Born in Paris, the late Alain’s long-standing relationship with Abu Dhabi began in 1969 on his first visit to the United Arab Emirates. Throughout the decades, Alain has played an important role in capturing and documenting the visual history of the Emirate through his collection of photography and film.

And generously, Alain bequeathed the gift of more than 2,000 still images; half of which were of Abu Dhabi, to a number of entities in the UAE. Alain also donated his video footage, which captured many significant moments and exchanges of an Emirate in a nascent stage of development.

Throughout the decades, Alain’s loyalty to and love for the UAE is seen through the people and scenes that his lenses have captured throughout his lifelong career – essentially Alain’s work has documented this country’s history.

Returning to Abu Dhabi on an almost annual basis throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, he spent much of each year capturing the development of the Emirate on film before sharing his work – through lectures and film screenings - across the world.

Over the years, Alain produced two films about the UAE entitled ‘United Emirates Gulf’ and ‘Masterpieces of Arab Kingdoms’ respectively.

Alain’s time in the Emirates has also inspired him to write a number of books about his experiences that have been translated into numerous languages and are available in libraries across the world. Alain also chose to follow a mission of spreading his love for the country, touring the world giving lectures and screening his films and photography. His aim was to inform and educate people about the countries he has visited, including the UAE.

This historically important collection of photography and film captures the progress of the Emirate over more than 40 years.