Isak Berbic, From the Life of Engineer D.M., 2012.

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Fig 1. On this particular visit engineer D.M. surveyed the construction process of a hydroelectric center near the Dead Sea. D.M.'s construction site was another 100 kilometers into the Jordanian desert.

Fig 2. The host stood outside of the frame. The photograph features only the two countrymen.

Fig 3. D.M. did not intend to report on the border incident before reaching his room and briefcase.

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Fig 4. D.M. was an expert on thermostable materials for the production of industrial chimney-stacks.

D.M.'s work took him, and his camera, through the Gulf, Libya, Lebanon, East Germany, Italy, the Non-Aligned, and Africa dating from the 1970’s until the 1990’s. In 1971 he was awarded a “Praktica” 35mm photo camera during the company family retreat at the lakes. He photographed the rolling dunes of the barren desert dissected by the electrically charged cables. He pondered on the marvel of human civilization; on the marvel of modern electrics.

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Fig 5. Beirut is so similar to Sarajevo, it is only the sea that makes it different.

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Fig 6-9. In 1932, the British Royal Air Force established an airfield in the desert outside of Sharjah for stop-over flights en route to India and Australia. During World War II, the airfield served regional campaigns and was a transit point for troops going further east. In 1977, the Royal Air Force closed this staging post and handed the fortified compound to the local government. The old runway has since been integrated into the Sharjah road network, known today as King Abdul Aziz street.

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Fig 10-13. The Iranian Revolution, Soviet War in Afghanistan, and the Iran窶的raq War greatly destabilized trade in the region causing engineer D.M.'s company to relocate its personnel to Khor Fakkan on the east coast of the Sharjah Emirate. Located along the Gulf of Oman, the port of Khor Fakkan was the first in the middle east to operate fully-equipped container facilities, and thus became strategically important as ships did not need to enter through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf. In the Summer of 1979, as Saddam Hussein took office in Iraq and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was seeking recognition of sovereignty, D.M.'s office implemented the high-voltage switchyard transformer and the on-site substations, supplying electrical power to the new civilian Sharjah International Airport.

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Fig 14. D.M. was astounded to see the embedded corals and seashells in the mud-brick walls of the small courtyard houses. Fig 15-16. Interconnected with narrow passageways, or "sikkas", cooling wind drafts breeze through from the vertical wind-towers.

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Fig 17. His local host explained that the walls are built with irregular rubble blocks set into a thick mortar known as "sarooj", with mangrove wood utilized as beams for strengthening the construction.

Fig 18-20. D.M. added that "naturally, people make homes from the material in their surroundings.

In Europe people combined tall straw with mud, while in Southeast Asia they used bamboo. Can you imagine living in an ice igloo? Perhaps we will know how to make buildings with this boundless sand."

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Fig 21. Some photographs are opaque; an obvious emulsion adhered to a surface. Fig 22. Some photographs appear transparent. The viewer's gaze is pulled through the surface and drawn into the illusion of the real image. Fig 23. Just as buildings and governments dissolve, seemingly permanent objects succumb to deterioration as well.

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Fig 24. It was only later that D.M. realized the significance of the countless visits to museums to which his hosts took him to in effort to entertain. Fig 25. At the time he found them so boring, however he recounted the visits with such excitement to his family, the audience of his slide shows.

Fig 26-27. "World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars," declared the young Ukrainian man during his tour of the museum of the history of religions.

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Fig 28. The slow exposure and the movement of his hand caused a slight blurring leftward. It is not only those you love that you photograph, like your son, but the material possessions that demonstrate your achievements. Fig 29. D.M. kept his car garaged and washed it with delight at family picnics.

Fig 30. His son considered his father very important, but this feeling was produced due to D.M.'s frequent absence. Fig 31. His Mother never asked about his work, and always told him that he was on the right side.

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Fig 32. We momentarily know who we are when we know who we are not, and often when we know whom we are against. Fig 33. We steal and destroy their possessions and take their lives.

Fig 34-35. This reflects some elements of reality, but after all images suffer from limitations.

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Fig 36-38. The height of the chimney plays a role in its ability to transfer conduit gases; the dispersion of pollutants at higher altitudes allows for greater neutralization of chemicals in the air before they reach the ground.

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Fig 39. During one of his trips D.M. was presented with an opportunity to broker the sale of 40 tons of light artillery. He carefully fulfilled the sale ensuring that all handlers were payed off in abundance along the way. He vowed never to repeat that again. Fig 40-41. That summer his son finally learned how to dive head first.

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Fig 42. The camera frame edges bind together fleeting visual elements.

Fig 43. One second of time: and something hidden comes into view and becomes a record.

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Fig 44. D.M. slept in Hotel Imperial. Fig 45-46. On the way home his colleague brought back an orchid for his wife and D.M. brought a remote control toy car for his son and a VCR for his brother in law.

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Fig 47. D.M., seated with a straight posture and a patient gaze pointed into the lens, 5 meters in front of him. The lamp post in the foreground, the Brandenburg Gate and D.M.'s figure shift the weight of the picture to the left. In November 1989 West Germans came across into East Berlin. They kissed one another in celebration. On December 25, 1989, Leonard Bernstein gave a concert in Berlin celebrating the end of the Wall, including Beethoven’s 9th symphony with the word “Joy” in the “Ode to Joy” changed to “Freedom”. The musicians came from East, West, North, South, America and England.

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Fig 48. In between Belgrade and Amman D.M.'s airplane landed in Bucharest unplanned. All the lights had been turned off; the markers off on the wings, the overhead lighting in the cabins. In total darkness the airplane landed on the runway. For six hours the passengers sat in the plane. After he arrived to his final destination, the news said that Romania’s Nicolae Ceaușescu had been arrested by the people.

Within 48 hours he and his wife were executed in public which was broadcast on television. This happened on December 25, 1989. Fig 49-50. The picture, having been taken by a passer by, is slanted and carelessly framed. D.M. wore linen on this rare occasion of leisure.

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Fig 51. In this photograph the world begins in the black space on the right and continues leftward beyond the edge of the frame. Fig 52-53. D.M.'s young wife and child resided in a rural town in Eastern Europe with pleasant living and occasional visits to the Adriatic seaside, when D.M. had the opportunity to spend longer periods at home.

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Fig 54. Influenced by major uprisings that began elsewhere in the region, anti-government protests broke out in the southern province and quickly spread to other cities. Fig 55. The people called for the abolition of restrictive laws which allow for arrests without charges, the legalization of opposition political parties, and the removal of corrupt local officials. Fig 56.The government responded with force and some minor concessions.

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Fig 57. Youth are the protagonists of instability, protest, reform and revolution.

Fig 58-59. Societies with fast rates of increase in population develop a disproportionately large demographic of youth. This brings on numerous political consequences.

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Fig 60. D.M. photographed sights that reminded him of his home country. Fig 61-63. We photograph sights of difference rather than things of sameness. That difference is minor since all cultures share the majority of human behavior.

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Fig 64. One Libyan pundit observed that tribalism and religion play a significant role in determining the social, economic, cultural and political developments of Arab political systems.

Fig 65-67. Pundit: [noun] an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public. (B. Klaić: Veliki rječnik stranih riječi, Zagreb 1974.).

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Fig 68-71. The United States listed Sudan as a terrorist state and indicted the Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the “Blind Sheikh�, for conspiring to wage a terrorist war against the free world.

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Fig 72. D.M. felt the fear of the eruption of unstable ground. Fig 73-75. The catharsis of the Egyptian Revolution occurred the day after Mubarak handed his power over to the military and left Cairo. It was only then that all the people felt safe to show their happiness in the streets.

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Fig 76-78. In the end he recognized he could never serve these conflicting constituencies.

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Fig 79-82. A photograph cuts through time. The photographer captured the exhilarating moment when the horses collided into each other and into history.

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Fig 83-86. Travels invite you to forget about the continuance of a quotidian existence back home.

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Fig 87. February 18, 1979. The Sahara Desert experienced snow for 30 minutes. The ability to make images is truly exclusive to the human species. This is what we have come to name imagination. Like a kaleidoscope, images fractal the objects they represent, taking us into the shelter of idolatry, and thus behave with an internal logic that is magical.