REVEAL by Baber Afzal
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Archival pigment print
Dimensions: 100 x 150 cm
Edition production year: 2017
Edition of 5
Price: $6800.00 USD
Status: available
In REVEAL, I wanted to capture the rare moment when a city known for spectacle became quiet, uncertain, and almost dreamlike. Photographed in Dubai in 2017, the image holds the Burj Khalifa above a vast blanket of fog while the surrounding skyline slowly dissolves. For me, this disappearance is not an absence, but an invitation to look more closely at what remains. The towers emerge like solitary markers between earth and sky, monumental yet unexpectedly vulnerable. Cool nocturnal tones and distant points of light deepen the sense of stillness, while the mist softens the architecture and loosens it from the familiar city below. A streak of light crossing the sky introduces a fleeting energy, suggesting movement within an otherwise suspended moment. I am drawn to the delicate boundary between visibility and obscurity, certainty and imagination. Here, atmosphere becomes as important as architecture, transforming the skyline into a landscape of memory and possibility. I hope REVEAL offers viewers a place to pause and consider how beauty can appear when the familiar is partially hidden, and how mystery can reveal a truth that clarity sometimes cannot.
Why collect this work?
REVEAL builds its tension through selective visibility: a central tower pierces both fog and sky while the surrounding city becomes a scattered set of partial landmarks.
- Afzal describes his practice as moving between documentation and interpretation, with Dubai as a recurring subject. Here, recognizable architecture anchors an otherwise unfamiliar, atmospheric cityscape.
- The photograph places the Burj Khalifa on the central axis, extending its spire toward a diagonal streak of light. Low buildings disappear beneath fog, shifting attention from the density of the city to isolated vertical forms.
- Catalogued as an archival pigment print, the work can sustain fine tonal gradations across the dark sky, pale fog and illuminated façades. At 100 by 150 centimetres, its scale supports comparison between minute lights and monumental structures.
- This 2017 view is significant as an image of Dubai structured by concealment rather than spectacle. It allows the skyline to be encountered as a temporary arrangement shaped by weather, distance and photographic framing.
About the Artist
Baber Afzal
Baber Afzal is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: Fine Art Photography. Based in Dubai, AE.
Nationality: Pakistani
A visual artist and fine art photographer exploring the relationship between landscape, architecture, atmosphere and the passage of time.
