Infertile Crescent

Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Middle East has witnessed crucial geopolitical changes that transformed the region for the next century onward. It slipped away from the fists of the Ottoman Empire, only to fall in the hands of British-French colonialism. Earning its independence years later, it was reconstructed, mapped and divided into small statelets which currently form the new, contemporary map of the Middle East.

Infertile Crescent describes the reality of what was once called the “cradle of civilization,” once termed “fertile,” the crescent that is now burning in turmoil. Jordan seems to be the only country that remains relatively stable and that receives refugees. But as the Syrian crisis enters its 8th year, Jordan is in the top three countries suffering from water scarcity, which brings to light the controversial Red-Dead sea conveyance project between Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

A 180-km pipeline carrying water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea is set to operate in 2020, a project that will allegedly provide much-needed water and save the shrinking Dead Sea. Concerns of disruption in the Dead Sea's natural ecosystem are being drowned out by voices of a new era, in which a vast regional economic project is openly being implemented with Israel, with the goal of creating a moderate Arab axis.

This project explores the route of the salvation pipeline by tracing the places it will cross — across ancient legends of the Dead Sea, where farmers dance around sink holes of thistle and oases of potash, and along the valley of peace, a desert yearning the sea. This is an old wives tale on the construction of a pipeline, where a geologist and a village idiot agree: “The next war is a water war.”

This project is ongoing and consists of four chapters, of which the first is presented here.

Infertile Crescent was shot on 6x7 format using Kodak Portra film. Nadia Bseiso is a Jordanian documentary photographer based in Amman. She concentrates on long-term projects based on personal research in geopolitics, history, anthropology and environmental degradation.