Freunde von Freunden meets Brownbook, the magazine that challenges stereotypes

“Traditional media is constantly stereotyping the Middle East as a region that is challenged with conflict, social and political tensions,” say Rashid and Ahmed bin Shabib, founders of Brownbook Magazine. “We’re trying to get the reader to challenge their beliefs and rethink primary issues.”

The pair, who also happen to be twins, founded the bimonthly magazine a decade ago from their HQ in Dubai as a “guide to the contemporary society in the Middle East and North Africa.” They recently caught up with the good people of Freunde von Freunden, who kindly let us reprint their images of the sartorially savvy brothers shot by Robert Rieger.

“Brownbook came from this notion of trying to explore who we are,” Rashid told FvF. “It started ten years ago, around the same time we renovated an old nail factory in an industrial area of Dubai and opened it up as a co-working space for a lot of independent artists and freelancers. Both projects were part of a self-exploration within a broader sense of Dubai – a city that’s trying to shape a lot of Middle Eastern culture.”

The magazine’s broader aim is to challenge people’s views of the Middle East, but publishing in the region isn’t always easy. “There’s an etiquette on how journalism should be pushed in the Middle East when it comes to issues like religious rights, gay rights, and other social tensions,” says Rashid. “We try to take a politically neutral, culturally savvy approach and because of that we’re able to talk in a broader way. We challenge sensitivities in a more progressive way rather than in a Western whistle-blowing way.

“For us it’s very important that you communicate something with a positive rhetoric, then you’re able to promote something in a much more positive tone. So instead of pointing fingers about gay rights, for example, we advocate tolerance, and tolerance is a very important sensibility that we need to encourage."