Dubai World III

I think this photograph is very interesting in regards to the concept that it presents. This piece presents a photograph of an actual project that was created. This is a photograph of a group of artificial islands that lies right off of the coast of Dubai, and the group of islands are roughly shaped into the continents of the world. The islands were created out of sand from Dubai's ocean front. As of late, the islands are slowly beginning to sink and this project is still a controversial issue. I like this photograph, because when I look at this piece, I think of the idea of global warming and humanity doing things that are slowly killing our Earth. I also like this piece, because it is very simplistic, but it conveys a lot of meaning that also brings a global issue to light. The piece itself consists of similar shapes that create the overall figure/shape of the seven continents. There is a lot of repetition through the use of those shapes, which creates unity. The way that the piece was photographed also creates an asymmetrical balance, yet emphasizes this shape. There is also a high contrast between the shapes and the ocean, which highlights the shapes and makes them stand out a bit more.  The emphasis and simplicity of this piece works very well, because it does a good job at conveying the message that with the more and more technology that we use daily, the more we are destroying our planet and ruining our Earth. For example, the more cars we use, the more carbon emissions get into the environment, raising the global temperature, causing the polar ice caps to melt, and affecting global ecosystems and food chains, causing animals to die off, etc. It's a never ending cycle. I feel

Image derived: Gursky, Andreas. Dubai World III. 2008. Photograph. ASXWeb. 25 Nov 2013. <http://www.juancole.com/2012/07/dubai-world-iii-gursky-photograph.html>.