The Gulf War of 1991 left a significant impact on the environmental status of Kuwait. After 800 oil wells were lit on fire, vast amounts of smoke and carbon dioxide began filling up the air,  which was very harmful to the environment. Despite the impact this has left, current oil production in Kuwait is causing the air to be even more polluted, and the oil would also seep into the ocean. Recent research has shown that the pollution occurring from oil production is posing a serious risk of cancer developing within the Kuwaiti population. The citizens of Kuwait tend to downplay the health effects because they want to maintain a certain standard of living that would be unattainable without oil. Kuwait does not have a diversification of resources, therefore the economy is based on one commodity being natural resources, more specifically oil. In the short term, the benefits out way the costs because the country has a high capital and the health effects are not as apparent on the population yet. However, in the long run, if the oil production continues at this rate the population will have a deteriorating health rate.

This leads to my reasoning behind the view finder being that I wanted to create a piece that would encourage the people to realize the harmful damages that oil production is causing, and that time is not on their side. The Kuwaiti population needs to cooperate to realize that in order to solve the failing systems and thrive to be globally connected, a change needs to occur. To permit this change, I wanted to showcase this undermined issue in a way that was both compelling and shocking to the audience.

The hourglass figure is meant to depict the overall theme of time, and how it is a factor that is vital to the survival of the Kuwaiti population. The black sand is a clear parallel to oil, and oil production as a whole. As the hourglass is turned and the black sand slips through to the other side, the audience is left with small white cotton balls. These white cotton balls are meant to represent the Kuwaiti population. As the hourglass flips to the other side, the black sand falls over the white cotton balls. This is meant to allude to the idea of oil production slowly drowning the Kuwaiti population in a multitude of health and economical problems.

I strongly believe that the most impactful change possible in Kuwait lays in the hands of the youth. Realistically, the drastic changes that this country desperately needs will only occur in the future. Therefore, the youth of Kuwait hold the power necessary for change within all failing systems of the country. It is for these reasons that this hourglass is mainly targeted to the youth, but also to the Kuwaiti population as a whole.