The book “Under Sodom Mountain” represents the culmination of eight years of dedicated work focused on one of Earth's most unique and beautiful places: the Dead Sea. This book aims to portray two opposite visual plains: the breathtaking beauty and the shocking ugliness of human actions that caused the ecological catastrophe in the valley. Combining these opposing forces was a significant challenge, as beauty and ugliness often seem to repel each other like opposing poles of a magnet. However, I believe we have successfully captured the essence after much effort.
Here are some books paragraphs:
"The Dead Sea has always fascinated people throughout history. It holds the promise of ancient ruins buried beneath its salt-laden surface and has been the setting for many legendary stories of miracles, struggles, and survival. The Dead Sea has been a sanctuary for those searching for something greater than themselves, from messianic prophets seeking inner peace to rebels fighting for their beliefs. Its shores have witnessed the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and the power of faith to move mountains. People have prayed, sinned, healed, and killed each other on these shores. They built dams and plants, drilled wells, cut the sea from any source of fresh water, and left it to die. Over the decades, the water level of the Dead Sea has been dropping at an alarming rate. Underground water streams are dissolving the salt layer beneath the seabed, causing the formation of numerous sinkholes along the coast. This makes large areas of the Dead Sea coast dangerous and effectively inaccessible. Despite their slowly decaying, the Dead Sea and its surroundings possess an inexplicable allure that captivates me. The complex and intricate network of sinkholes that dot the landscape seems to be in a state of constant flux, disappearing and reappearing in an endless mourning dance of destruction. As I gaze out at this mysterious zone, I am struck by the paradoxical blend of beauty, serenity, and chaos caused by humankind. And meanwhile, people continue praying, sinning, and killing each other, moving their cheap beach chairs and sunshades further and further
away, silently following the disappearing sea… Alexander Bronfer March 2024"
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