These photos are very stunning. Must share out and don't forget to spots out the animals on each pictures shown.
Artist's eerie photos imagine wild animals roaming free among crumbling remains of abandoned desert city.
By
Julian Gavaghan
With its soaring skyscrapers,
ever-green golf courses and even a ski resort, the desert city of Dubai
is testament to a determined battle between man and nature.
Yet
with the global downturn and mounting debts threatening its future, it
is not hard to imagine this sun-seared metropolis being swallowed back
up by the surrounding sands as a financial meltdown prompts its wealthy
sponsors to leave, followed by the 2million mainly foreign workers
depending on them.
That
is the post-apocalyptic nightmare scenario realised in eerie images
created by the award-winning British photographer and artist Richard
Allenby-Pratt.
Deserted Dubai: A zebra wanders along an empty motorway in the image
created by Richard Allenby-Pratt in a bid to highlight the plight of
such creatures whose own habitats have been plundered
The best picture: Lion king of the urban jungle: A lion surveys the abandoned city from high-up platform on the empty shell of a derelict tower
Sands of time: Giraffe in the desert with Dubai's skyline visible in the background
With the streets and resorts devoid
of human life and all building work halted, all that remain are the
animals who are left to roam the crumbling remains of the former urban
paradise and pearl of the United Arab Emirates, a gulf state that was
until 30 years ago dominated by nomads.
Bizarrely,
among the dogs and gazelles that you might expect in such an
environment, there are also some stranger more exotic beasts enjoying
their freedom.
They include
a lion surveying the city from a platform high up the empty shell of a
derelict apartment block and a zebra wandering along a multi-lane
highway in the middle of the desert city as it is imagined sometime
after 2017.
Also making appearances are a kangaroo
hopping by skyscrapers, a puma in an abandoned resort, a hyena at a
vacant housing development, a rhino at a dormant building site, a
crocodile in the harbour and a giraffe stalking the outskirts with the
world tallest tower, the Burgh Al Arab, clearly rising above the distant
skyline.
Despite seeming
distinctly unrealistic, such beasts do live in Dubai thanks to wealthy
residents who see keeping wild creatures as status symbols and others
are kept in its zoo.
What are roo doing here? A kangaroo hops along a canalside. But as
strange as it may seem such exotic animals are kept by many wealthy
residents are pets
Strange visitor: A rhino walks in the sand at an abandoned building site
Puma by the pool: Another exotic animal makes itself at home a vacant former holiday resort
Peacock in the plaza: A bird shows off its plumage beside the beach - but there are no visitors to see it
Roaming free: An ibex stares down through the shell of a building after the construction has long since ground to a halt
Taking a sip: A dorcas gazelle drinks from water below a motorway bridge
In showing what life would be like if
animals did indeed inherit the earth, Mr Allenby-Pratt was attempting to
show how exposed Dubai may be to a potential collapse.
He
told Mail Online: 'These scenes are imagined as being shortly after the
departure of the majority of people from Dubai and the subsequent
collapse of the city's infrastructure.
'My
main intention in this project is to highlight how vulnerable the Dubai
economic and social model could be. Primarily because of it's reliance
on an ex-pat labour force who have no ability to earn nationality.
'So
90 per cent of the population can never call the place home; which
means, of course, conflict or economic unviability would result in a
mass exodus and a consequent collapse of basic infrastructure.
'I
introduced animals to the scenes to suggest that natural systems may
ultimately prove to be more robust. The suggested scenario is that these
are released zoo animals.
Hyena at a housing development: Look closely and you can see the animal laughing at the fate of the previous human occupants
Grazing: Gemsbok, native to southern Africa, roam among the scrub near an extravagant building project abandoned midway
A nice snap: A crocodile swims in a harbour long since evacuated by human life
Flocks: Aoudad, or Barbary sheep, graze near a former luxury hotel
‘I hope to highlight the fragility of
our economic systems and the desperate need for us to live in harmony
with the other occupants of our world.’
He also hoped to highlight the plight of such creatures whose own habitats we have plundered.
He explains: ‘This project imagines a
future without people, where the relics of our unrealised ambitions are
populated by some of the species we have, in the present day, come so
close to exterminating.
The images are on display at his Abandoned exhibition at The Empty Quarter Gallery. To see other images, click here visit Mr Allenby-Pratt’s website.
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I personally find these photos are quite interesting and the ideas behind them quite impressive.
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