Primitively Modern

I took these photos while on a holiday in the Namibian Desert, in particular, in the mining ghost town of Kolmanskop near Luderitz. I was very fascinated to see how nature and culture shaped and interacted with each other, and how they engaged in a constant flux and becoming.

In some areas of the town, for example, one can see how time and the elements have deteriorated and smashed much of glass from the houses windows, but where it still remains intact, the sand has deposited and formed a golden layer providing the perfect background for tourists to write their names, dates, and comments using their fingers.

Where instead the sand was not obstructed by the windows, it was able to reach inside the houses creating small dunes which now cover floors, room, stairs, and furniture. Tourists visiting these empty houses often need to walk on top of the sand, leaving once again their own marks and footprints…But only until the next change, event; or until the wind will bring new dust that will cover or blow away these traces, creating other intriguing shapes, patters and spaces.