Itamar Dotan Katz

Vacated Vacation

Whether it was caused by the wave of terror attacks (2004), the Tahrir Square uprising (2011) or various economic considerations, this once promising tourist area has turned into a graveyard of hotels. These enormous monuments have been abandoned and now stand as silent memorials to what might have been. The south side of the Sinai peninsula is a beautiful, unlike any other landscape, as unique and as barren as Luke Skywalker’s home planet. It’s dramatic red mountains tumble down into a turquoise ocean, which is filled with colourful aquatic life. Scattered on the beach are some very low cost guest houses in the form of straw huts. Only a handful are occupied by those “brave” enough to visit Sinai. The land itself is inhabited mostly by Bedouin tribes and the Egyptian army. But what looks as a heaven like resort area is almost completely deserted, filled only with traces of men. Some of those resorts are in a fully operational state, with beds in the rooms and running water in the sink; others are in different stages of construction - but all are empty. Over the past three years I have been documenting these resorts to show the wastefulness of men, the consequences of conflict and economy and how present humans can be without being present at all. This is an ongoing project with the aim to be presented as a mockup 'travel guide to abandoned hotels'.