Hugo Feio Machado

Requiem to a dying planet

This project intends to be a exploration of different kinds of terrain and situations where sustainable farming development occurs.

I wished to start with this very dried place not very far from us. Still it is far enough to be very different. It has almost no water. This feature dominates the landscape, and it is so ruling that life obeys the pace set by it.

Merzouga is a small Berber settlement, in the region of Er-rachidia on the Moroccan border with Algeria. 

Being in a area referred as the entrance to the Sahara Desert

The town keeps growing, as it lays bordering one of the sides of the Erg Chebi.

Since some tourism helps it to increase in size and sustained by the oasis to keep a growing population there.

This light pink sand dunes, contrast with the dark beige walls of the houses. Along the main street family run businesses bring colour and life to the arid surroundings and monochromatic landscape.

Although the heath and lack of water prevail, beauty still can be found. The oasis reflects this beauty and the contrast of life.

The farming is of a sustainable nature, where plants need each other; but it is the hand of man that makes these plants a symbol for life and the universal Man.

I intend to continue this theme in other parts of the planet, in other environments, hoping to create imagery that explores lives in the ecosystem.