"While Zaki alters the landscapes and cityscapes he photographs, his goal is not to make them unrecognizable. Rather he embellishes, transforms and reflects on locations throughout southern California to speak about history, architecture, and the changing climate. He uses photography to frame "reality" but then goes further by transforming that reality into something else. Sometimes his interventions are quite obvious, other times — like in the No Dust to Settle photographs, his manipulations are more subtle. Zaki combines the formal and conceptual to create evocative and thoughtful images that add to the ever changing discourse around digital photography."
