Constructing Paradise is centered on the construction labor communities of post building boom Dubai. The labor community of Dubai during the building boom operated at a furring pace, with rotating shifts operating 24hrs a day. This invokes the spirit of the Deux Ex Machina in the seemingly endless landscape of structures under construction. With the arrival of the global economic crisis beginning in 2008 virtually every crane across the United Arab Emirates is frozen in place. Those who remain from the labor community race to complete infrastructure projects. While the construction of towers has halted, the construction of the pavement has not. While it is easy to neglect/forget how the streets beneath all of us came about, the efficacy of witnessing this event as a daily experience, as I did, is quite powerful. This is an essence that I’ve strived to capture through these images.

Dubai is a living construction site, which grants one a unique perspective into the world of construction normally blockaded by 4×8 plywood boards. While the achievements of Dubai as a city, and the United Arab Emirates as whole have been astounding within a period of unprecedented growth; I focused my attention to the human scale to shed light on stories of the hands that have played an inexplicable part.