Paradise City features Bol’s photographs in the region around Carrara, Italy, where one finds the age-old marble industry – in fact this industry dates back to 70 BCE. Within the series the subject shifts, from distant views of the immense landscape to close-up views of details in the marble or the traces left by men.

“By visiting the area for over a period of more than twenty years, I have been able to investigate the quarries from different angles, all organically related with each other.
When I started, I was struck by the fantastic light in the quarries; then I became fascinated by the material itself and the traces the work process left behind. As a result I started to see the quarry as one, big sculpture, in which coincidence played a major role - the work process in the quarry itself led to interesting shapes and structures that were condensed into abstract sculptures through the lens.
Finally, also influenced by the work of The New Topographics, I saw and recorded the immense damage done to nature in this impressive western part of the central Apennines. Aloof beauty seemed to have to go hand in hand with cruel attacks on the landscape. Thus, a new, other landscape has come into being that may be read as a metaphor for human interaction with nature.”
- Hans Bol