Johannes Heuckeroth’s recent trip to the Arab Emirates gave rise to a series of impressive photographs collectively named, "Dreaming of Dubai - between illusion and reality." This work, which was part of a graduation project, won the Sony World Photography Award in 2013. It exposes the utopian development of Dubai, which has been growing constantly for the last 50 years. A large number of pictures reveal the photographer’s fascination with this metropolis, with its astonishing infrastructure, composed of old abandoned buildings, huge modern luxury towers and artificial islands. Johannes reveals a parallel and surreal vision, heightening the boundaries between fiction and reality. he uses real elements of the port city as a backdrop against which to express a fantasy world full of imagery, in which dreams become reality.

**The artist: Zoltan Bekefy**

Born in 1982, this self-taught photographer launched his career in 2005 by moving to Ireland. This new host country with its expressions of solitude and melancholy inspired the emergence of a dark yet soothing atmosphere in his work. The exclusive use of black and white allows him to play on contrasts in order to add a mysterious or even unreal touch to the images. Major exhibitions have been held in tribute to his work, particularly in Europe (Spain, Hungary, England, Austria, and Poland) and in the United States.