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Empty Quarter desert’s ‘1,000 shades of red’ captured in Hong Kong exhibition showing photos of world’s largest sand mass
- Photographer Palani Mohan’s exhibition at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel captures vibrant colours and signs of life in Arabian Peninsula’s Empty Quarter desert
- Mohan’s fascination with nature and its power inform a section of the exhibition featuring photos taken during his time in Hong Kong
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In the southern expanse of the Arabian Peninsula lies the Rub’ al Khali desert, the world’s largest sand mass, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
In English, it is known as the Empty Quarter. But to photographer Palani Mohan, the vast desert – “it’s bigger than France” – is everything but empty.
During his two years based in Dubai, the Indian-born, Australian-raised photographer made regular trips to the desert on the Saudi Arabia-UAE border. Now his images from those visits are on show at “Sand Trails and Storm Clouds”, an exhibition at the f22 foto space in The Peninsula hotel, in Tsim Sha Tsui.
“I’d wake up after midnight and travel eight hours at 140km an hour just to catch the morning light,” Mohan says of his desert excursions. “You don’t want to be outside any later – it’s 45 degrees [Celsius; 113 degrees Fahrenheit] by 8am.”
Not only did Mohan capture vibrant colours – “the desert has 1,000 shades of red” – he also found life and inspiration in a place that many see only as dead and inhospitable.
“It’s hot and dry and I’d be the only sign of life among these massive reddish-orange sand dunes,” he says.
After many years with the Post, Kylie Knott found her calling on the culture and lifestyle desk. She writes about the environment, animal welfare, food and the arts.
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