A photo exhibition opening tonight, running throughout Dubai Photo Week and extending to March 4 offers an examination of “The Smile.”

Hosting gallery Gulf Photo Plus (@gulfphotoplus), offers a glimpse of the exhibit:

“A cursory search of archival images by world-renowned VII Photo agency photographers seems to show we often frown upon smiles in our photographs.

The Smile exhibition brings together images of people smiling – most often a taboo expression in photojournalism – into a collection of powerful images gathered during the most important historical events that have shaped the past 30 years. Compiled as a group, they reveal the astonishing range of human behavior that smiles represent.

Pride powers a smile, power emboldens a smile, we smile to seduce or be seduced. But we also smile when we lie, when we’re scared or anxious. In fact, just one variant of the 18 different smiles recognizes enjoyment, and it’s this universal variant that unites us as human beings.”

VII @VIIPHoto, created in 2001 by seven of the world’s leading photojournalists, now represents 19 of the world’s preeminent photojournalists whose careers span 35 years of world history.

View a photo of the photos included in the exhibition.