CAROLINE SOHIE

PARADISE CITY

Qatar, 2012

At dusk they appear a mirage

the new citadels of an old desert

as they grow from the dust

in an attempt to anchor the intangible

they trace territories in virgin sand

new worlds concealed in concrete

with cavernous hollows

mirroring the dream of  a constructed paradise.

I would travel alone and explore for hours the changing contours of this rapidly expanding city. I somehow wanted to capture its moment of transition; 

the tension between the virgin, untouched sands of the desert and the first traces 

of mankind’s assertion.

I would drive beyond the mapped edges of the city, attempting to reach the end of the road; open to accidental encounters between the new and the old. 

An otherworldly in-between landscape would unfold, located on the intersection 

of time.

The modern ruin emerged as a visceral metaphor for man’s perpetual pursuit to translate aspiration in space, constructing a momentary paradise on earth. 

The lines in the sand, low level walls and gates punctuate the vast open horizon, symbolically marking new territories of appropriation.