Location: United States
Adi Lavy is an internationally accomplished documentary photographer that has worked for world-renowned publications such as Newsweek, SZ Weissen (Germany) and Le Repubblica (Italy). In April of 2008, she was chosen as a finalist at the prestigious Hyeres Photography festival, showcasing her project “Camp Sundown”, which addresses the inner world of children who suffer from a disorder called XP, which prevents them from being exposed to any ultra violet light. A Israeli native, Adi began her career as a journalist, working for various publications in Israel, and over the years shifted towards photography, attending Columbia University School of the Arts and New York’s School of Visual Arts. For the past four years, Adi has been working towards her directorial debut, a documentary titled ‘Sun Kissed’. In 2009 Adi and her production team won the prestigious ITVS Open Call, funded by PBS, which is due to come out in 2012.
When I was young, I remember sitting in the back seat of my parents car, nose glued to the window, looking out at the big blue of the Dead Sea. Back then the sea reached the road, and it seemed that if I stretched out my hand, I could touch its salty waters. Today, driving down the same road, the water line receded many miles, replaced with barren land and sinkholes, sprinkled with many warning signs forbidding access to the sea.
The Dead Sea is a no man’s land. Aside from a few safe beaches, most areas are restricted to access due to the danger of sinkholes. As a result of years of neglect by Israeli and Jordanian governments, the destruction is rapidly progressing and is evident everywhere. Environmentalists now claim that the Dead Sea is "dying" as the water that used to feed it is diverted for industry and agriculture. If things continue as they are, in less than 50 years, the Dead Sea as we know it will be gone for good.
Once upon a sea is a contemporary environmental portrait of the Dead Sea, documenting those who frequent it and it’s massive destruction, while admiring the new beauty of the land, revealed beneath the ruins.
A view of the Dead Sea from above. The Jordanian mountains are nestled in the back. This image symbolizes the way the Sea was in the past and is one of the only view points where the sink holes and destruction go unnoticed.
Sink holes from a birds eye view. In the past thirty years the Sea has continuously been shrinking, exposing barren land and various Geological phenomenons.
Exposed land, still moist from the sea water, with traces of salt.
Anat, a local Sculptor creates her sculptors from the Salt of the Sea.
Man bathing in mud pin, amidst the wreckage of the Sea.
Fairly new yellow colored sink hole. Many layers of salt and soft soil. The Dead Sea can be seen in the Background.
Man attempting to Dive, unaware of the natural buoyancy of the water due to its high salinity.
Dead Sea Factory manufacturing fertilizers.
Man feeding birds at mineral beach
Family bathing in the water.
Salt water canal delivering water from the North part of the Sea to the south, which is completely dried out as the water that used to feed it has been diverted for industry and agriculture.
“Big Blue”
“Ravaged Sea”
“Traces”
“Artist at sea”
“ Mud Pin”
“Sink Hole”
“Attempt at Diving”
“Fertilizer Factory”
“Man feeding birds”
“Habitat”
“Girl at Sea”
“Salt & Water ”
“Morning Prayer”
“Wreckage at Sea”
“Smoking Man”
“Once Upon a Sea”
