Relative Permanence
An ongoing series of double exposures that places cities within the expanse of the natural world. Through layering and blending, built structures and landscapes coexist in a single frame. Towers settle into dunes, urban grids echo the contours of mountains, and city lights embed within stone.
The work centers on scale and time. What we build in decades exists in terrain shaped over millions of years and beneath skies that extend far beyond a human lifetime. By compressing these timelines, the images reframe our sense of permanence, and structures that feel solid begin to appear temporary in a much larger context.
The series moves between reality and imagination, reorienting perspective. It reflects on how we shape the world and how it shapes us in return, holding both admiration and humility. In doing so, it shifts the scale at which we see ourselves.
All images © 2026 Navid Baraty