“In the shimmery water of Cape Romano, on Florida’s west coast, stands this ruin of a fantasy vacation house, built by an oil magnate in the 1980s. It was constructed on land, with a large setback from the shore. It is now being increasingly claimed by the water and is only accessible by boat. Looking like a surreal creature from a Dali painting, the structure is a stark sign of the ever-shifting landscape. Hurricane Irma took out two of the six domes in 2017. They now serve as an artificial reef for fish and mollusks. The remaining domes are peppered with migratory birds using them as a landing point. With its sci-fi silhouette the structure went from being an oil-producer’s retreat to a home for Florida’s abundant marine wildlife in a fragile ecosystem.”
Anastasia Samoylova about the image for the British Journal of Photography
Dome House is artwork from the series FloodZone. FloodZone is Anastasia's photographic account of life on the climatic knife-edge of the southern United States. It's an expansive project reflecting and responding to the problem of rising sea levels. The project began in Miami in 2016, Samoylova moved to the area, her first experience living in a tropical environment. It was the hottest summer on record. Through daily walks, she began to realize how the city’s seductive tropical palette and quality of light concealed the growing dissonance between its booming real-estate market and the ocean’s encroachment on its shoreline. Ocean views are prized in the real-estate world, with little regard for building projects’ locations in high-risk flood zones. Investors seem to turn a blind eye to the reality that Miami is steadily slipping underwater. Miami Beach, in particular, is a striking case study: the artificial island boasts some of the most luxurious properties, but it is subject to regular flooding. Living in Miami is bittersweet: it looks and feels like a paradise, but the only secure roots belong to mangrove trees.