“When I set foot in this complex of semi-demolished villas, I felt I had discovered a part of lost history of this land. These abandoned villas seemed as though they were waiting to tell their stories before vanishing from the face of the Earth,'' he says.
Hamidi's camera has captured these untold stories. His images tell bittersweet tales of the people who lived in them — of their successes, failures and the problems they surmounted to make Dubai's transformation possible.
Phoenix story mythology a bird that lived in the Arabian Desert for 500 years and then firing itself and reborn from its ashes. This series is an exploration of resilience and survival by the photographer who has been overwhelmed by current changes in Dubai.
Hamidi’s Phoenix Series looks at the way the world was and how it is now. The values and traditions society is built on; the conflict between group and individual identity and connections with the past that give us the strength to accept change and new beginnings.
The Phoenix Series is also about connecting with roots and accepting changes. The young Iranian photographer and filmmaker who moved to Dubai in 2007, was overwhelmed by the rapid transformation of this city from traditional to futuristic.
“The design and colors of the villas, the shape and size of the broken furniture, the scattered rubble and the remaining perspectives of the walls, corridors, windows and doors combined with the sunlight, beautiful old trees and flowers that still bloomed in the unattended gardens and the tranquility of the neighborhood emitted a stunning energy totally different from the energy that we receive and the emotion that we have by living and observing the high-rises and the new modern city.'' Hamidi says.
“As I shot these pictures, sometimes with the Burj Dubai peeping over the roof of a villa, I felt these old houses were happy and proud to give way to the next generation. And I was reminded of the Phoenix, the mythological bird that rises anew from its own ashes''.