The work presented by the Milanese Michele Nastasi, a master in architectural photography, “Arabian Transfer” is a photographic research that presents the transitional conditions in six major cities of the Arabian Peninsula: Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama and Riyadh . Arabia is historically a crossroads of exchange with the East, for the West. But in recent decades, these new Arab cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have emerged as new global epicentres made possible by the mobility of people, goods, finances, etc. These cities are built and populated by immigrants from around the world.
The photographs were taken between 2010 and 2017, in the same time with a series of research on the spectacular architecture of the Persian Gulf.
Michele Nastasi explains: “In this series I wanted to avoid the sublime and grotesque tone which photography tends to acquire to emphasize the most spectacular aspects of these landscapes; but I also sought to give substance to the abstract and formal imagery of the new skylines – which remain in the background as the New York captured by Dos Passos, to which the title refers.
I have favored a more intimate and direct relationship with the cities and their inhabitants, by walking and spending a lot of time on the streets and in urban spaces, without concealing the difficulty of the metropolitan condition.”
Through the images that challenge us, the underlying question arises with acuity, where lies the future and the survival of this gigantic world that is being built.
Fotografia Europea
Palazzo da Mosto
Reggio Emilia
