DISAPPEARING INTO NIGHT
BY DAVID KENDALL
David Kendall was one of the honourable mentions of the fifth edition of SCOPIO International Contest, titled 'Crossing Borders Shifting Boundaries: City', which was focused on diverse countries and on how the migratory movements have influenced the places and people (identities) of those territories. The primarily focus of this fifth edition was on the subject of residential spaces, public spaces, urban scattered communities and city life in general. We were interested in showing works that characterise the rich multifaceted world of contemporary cities and / or non-traditional urban communities regarding immigrants or minorities' different types of blocks, neighbourhoods, cultural diversity and values expressed in various types of residential and public spaces.
'Disappearing into Night', by David Kendall
"In Gulf cities the rapid development of urban infrastructures transforms the built environment. In these settings electrical light sculpts new architectural landscapes, reorganizes boundaries and visually erodes soon-to-be forgotten neighbourhoods erased by structural change. At night in Doha, Qatar, artificial light and built environment fuse together to form fresh visual landscapes. The afterglow of overhanging floodlights merges with fluctuating climatic conditions to guide the focal direction. Therefore, revealing or hiding the 'seen or unseen' in architectural sites occupied by an unsettled expatiate workforce rebuilding cityscapes. Crumbling sites become saturated and cloaked by the diffused electric light generated by 24-hour construction sites. In addition, temporality is an important structural component; the luminosity of building sites extends beyond the foreground, projected on existing facades, walls, buildings and streets. Sensory experiences of photography juxtapose with perceptual manifestations of resettlement whilst roaming at night. Overtime construction fences and hoardings are put up and buildings taken down changing the over-illuminated landscape. In residential streets atmospheres emerging that appears to be silent yet in reality never sleep in the sky glow enveloping the biosphere. Consequently, the camera exposes traces of human occupation and precarious social infrastructures. Spaces where people rest, worship and trade in the glare of construction, thus, activating new discourse about planning processes, heritage and environmental impacts of migration, construction and infrastructure development along the Arabian Peninsula."
David Kendall