In its early incarnations, the project used analog processes of photographic masking and re-exposure of buildings along the Amman city landscape to mimic the continual re-defining of the horizon. Following the enormity of urban growth and development over the past decade in Jordan, I set out to find the “edge of Amman”. However, this futile search led to a transformation of the idea of physical borders away from something linear and towards something circular in format, where the beginning and end are hard to define and expansion occurs from within and radiates outwards in all directions.
The theme of the 30th anniversary of Darat al Funun, “The truth is black, write over it with mirages of light” taken from a Mahmoud Darwish poem, further informed my process, as the mirage literally became the focal point within my re-imagined landscapes.
The ancient ruins at Umm Qais and Mount Nebo serve as destination points where one can gaze upon the borders to Palestine and the precious bodies of water which nourishes the valley and divides the region. These etheric visions are juxtaposed within three scenes: the city landscape of downtown Amman, the mountain terrain between Jordan and the Golan Heights, and the agricultural region of the Ghor along the Jordan River. The final images explore how these mirages impact our relationship with the landscape.
