GG Al-Harthy

Saud Al-Harthy repairs traditional dhows in the boatyard at Sur, fitting teak planks by hand and eye in the trade that built the coast's sailing history, mostly alone and mostly to the sound of adze and tide. The yard's master craftsmen picked him at sixteen for his stillness, and the stillness has since built a dozen hulls. He plays with the score hidden. It goes off before the first roll, every match, because a number in the corner of the screen is a thing that decides for you, and he would rather carry it himself and be occasionally wrong. He is patient, technical and almost wordless, and a plank forced into place, he says, always leaks. So does a forced double.