Work in progress..
Qatar is located in the Persian Gulf and borders Saudi Arabia. It. The country had been relatively poor and dependent on Pearl fishing until the discovery of a deep gas reserve off the Qatari coast in the late 1940’s. This discovery dramatically changed the state of the country, resulting in Qatar becoming the second highest GDP per capita in the world.
It’s a stark difference from two generations previous that experienced life in basic housing without running water or electricity. With this new found wealth, the people have provided themselves with free health care, education, land to build on, and receive in the region of $5000 per month from the day they are born. The people are using this money, generated by gas and oil, to rapidly transform their country.
The following pictures are taken outside of the city in a kind of liminal space. Space that sits on a border or crossroads, where human settlement – whether it be marked by a simple sign post, survey mark or suburban town – grapples to claim an area of the vast and dominant desert. These pictures begin to explore space as it turns into place. They are an attempt to capture glimpses of this transition as the first signs of an identity begin to appear.
