Inspired by an article he read about abandoned diamond mines in Namibia, photographer Álvaro Sánchez-Montañés wanted to learn more. In his magazine he had only stumbled across one picture of Kolmanskop, a now ghost town in southern Namibia that had once been a rich mining village. Online he found a treasure trove of interesting photos and at that moment promised himself that he would one day experience the Namib desert for himself. He would see with his very own eyes how the desert sands' had reclaimed its space.

When he got there, he found "the beauty in the abandoned, of the useless, of the time passing by." Left at the mercy of the Namib desert, the winds had filled the rooms of the deserted buildings with sand. The diamond village that had at one time been thriving with a hospital, ballroom, school, theater and casino, was now just like a surreal dream.