Insomnia: Architecture of Escape continues my long-term observation of places whose apparent purpose has begun to dissolve. Tenerife is often imagined as a territory of reinvention — a distant edge where people arrive hoping to leave another life behind.
I photograph the island at moments when its image of paradise loses coherence. White walls, locked doors, barriers, covered boats and emptied terraces form a landscape organised through separation and controlled access. Familiar objects appear slightly displaced, suspended between use and abandonment, protection and confinement.
In these images, Tenerife becomes a temporary refuge for outsiders, dreamers and self-exiles. The island is not presented as a destination, but as an unstable space between departure and belonging — a place where distance creates the possibility of change without ever guaranteeing it. Escape remains present as a promise, while the architecture continually defines its limits.
Selected works are available as limited-edition archival pigment prints (edition of 5 + 1 AP). For enquiries: info@tomekalbin.com