colour scheme
From Arabia to Exeter
Many of the photographs in this exhibition have been contributed by Exeter University Fellow and former lecturer in Arabic, Leslie McLoughlin. Now settled in Exeter with his wife Christine, Leslie's previous employment as an Arabic interpreter took him much further afield. Since 1961 he, his wife, and their two children Elizabeth and Jonathan, have called numerous Arab countries home. The family remain deeply involved in the culture and life of Arabia, a place which they respected and in which they were welcomed.
While Mr McLoughlin's work involved interpreting for influential foreign dignitaries including prime ministers and royalty, Christine pursued her love of drawing and painting. She has captured in charcoal, ink and paint many areas of Abu Dhabi and Dubai which, due to dramatic re-development, no longer exist. Daughter Elizabeth has inherited her mother's creative streak. Born in Beirut in 1967, Elizabeth attended a handicraft school in Egypt at the age of 10 where she learnt to weave. Elizabeth has continued to develop this skill from home in Exeter. Brother Jonathan attended an Arabic-speaking school in Lebanon where he developed a passion for calligraphy.
Life in Arabia proved both wonderful and traumatic for the MLoughlin's. Riots, assassinations and civil wars were a part of life. The family was evacuated from Lebanon during the June War of 1967. Later in 1975 they experienced eight months of the Lebanese Civil War before they made an emergency exit by road. The Israeli assassinations of Palestinians in Beirut in 1973 ended Jonathan's schooling in Lebanon. Four years later Jonathan and Elizabeth were at school in Egypt at the time of the time of the Cairo bead riots.
The family finally left Dubai in 1981 on the day President Sadat was assassinated in Cairo, but their connection with Arabia has continued to the present day. Mr McLoughlin explains, "As a family we all live in Exeter but we have been involved with many Arabic countries for nearly 50 years. We all feel a strong attachment, especially through the Arabic language, but also through arts, textiles, music and photographs."
