In 2013, my gallery in Dubai, Carbon12, invited me for a solo show. It was my motivation to create something, especially for Dubai. I had never been to the Middle East before and had just some naive ideas about how it would be there. I assumed there would be sand, camels, and overdressed women for religious reasons. I named the series of photographs I planned to do Camelops Femina. At my New York studio, I invited a few of my friends to model for me. I built a stage out of sand-colored natural wood and bought many clothes in more or less the same color tone. The models had to go on all fours and pretend to be camels. I was happy with the end product but worried that the gallery visitors in Dubai would not have enough humor and I would end up in trouble. While creating this work, I realized that I push the envelope, which I often do with my art. I feel an artist should have the liberty to talk sometimes unpleasantly without hurting someone’s feelings, provided that this person has enough humor to recognize the nuances of the artwork. But all went fine, and as you can see in the photo below, I was drinking champagne without any worries.