Diriyah

After spending the last twenty years photographing people in war-torn places around the world, photographer Bobby Sager trains his gaze upon a UNESCO world heritage site in the Arabian desert to deliver a visual tour de force, recording ghostly faces he detects in the ancient city’s mud walls.

Sager traveled to the ruins of Diriyah, an ancient desert city abandoned by its inhabitants some seventy-five years ago. The fragile site has been closed to visitors for over a decade. But during the final stages of a major ten-year restoration, Sager was given unlimited access to capture the soul of this magical place before it reopened to the public.

Captivated by details in Diriyah’s decaying mud-brick walls and curving paths, Sager was drawn to the “faces” he saw within the mud patterns of the town’s architecture. Sager asks us to think of these faces as our hosts while we, their guests, explore the streets, palaces, mosques, and schools that they call home.

Desert landscapes and architectural compositions accompany details of the walls and the faces in this lushly produced, oversize volume.

Bobby Sager is an American photographer. His photography has given rise to several publications and exhibitions, including: Invisible Sun (Rizzoli, 2019); Beyond the Robe (Powerhouse Books, 2013); and The Power of the Invisible Sun (Chronicle, 2009).