Mixing research with surveillance, photographer and social scientist Trevor Paglen documents the covert and classified actions of the American military and intelligence agencies and turns it into art. Fuzzy pictures of desert airfields, test centers, and surveillance sites — shot at a distance from hard to reach vantage points in extreme conditions — reveal the hidden transfer of workers and weaponry. His long exposures of the nighttime skies show the flight paths of spy satellites watching our every move, while his research into CIA plots and collection of military memorabilia disclose the games governments play and the pride the players take in their secretive activities. Paglen’s pictures, which get exhibited in museums and galleries internationally and published in books, are both startling and sublime.
An exhibition of Trevor Paglen’s work is currently on view at the Secession in Vienna, while a recent monograph, Invisible: Covert Operations and Classified Landscapes, which was published by Aperture, is available at Amazon.
Click through below for a gallery of fascinating images.
“James Thomas Harbison” (CIA Officer Wanted in Connection with the Abduction of Abu Omar from Milan, Italy), 2007. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
From the series Six CIA Officers Wanted in Connection with the Abduction of Abu Omar from Milan, Italy, 2007. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Workers; Gold Coast Terminal; Las Vegas, NV; Distance ~ 1 mile; 8:58 a.m. , 2007, C-Print 76,2 x 91,4 cm Trevor Paglen. Courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln und Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco
Trevor Paglen, They Watch the Moon, 2010
Unknown Dragon. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Project Zipper 2009. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Dead Military Satellite (DMSP 5D-F11) Near the Disk of the Moon , 2010, C-Print 61 x 81,3 cm Trevor Paglen. Courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln und Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco
Worth the Wait. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Alone and Unafraid. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Large Hangars and Fuel Storage, 2005. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
DMSP 5B/F4 from Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation (Military Meteorological Satellite; 1973-054A), 2009. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
KEYHOLD/IMPROVED CRYSTAL near Scorpio (Optical Reconnaissance Satellite; USA 129), 2007. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
LACROSSE/ONYX near Cepheus (Synthetic Aperture Radar Reconnaissance Satellite; USA 182), 2008. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Nine Reconnaissance Satellites over the Sonora Pass, 2008. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Four Geostationary Satellites Above the Sierra Nevada, 2007. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
N5177C at Gold Coast Terminal, 2007. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Depleted Uranium Field, 2006. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
Chemical and Biological Proving Ground #2, 2006. From the book Invisible (Aperture 2010) © Trevor Paglen
PAN (Unknown; USA-207) , 2010, C-Print , 152,4 x 121,9 cm Trevor Paglen. Courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln und Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco
Control Tower (Area 52); Tonopah Test Range, NV; Distance ~ 20 miles; 11:55 a.m. , 2006, C-Print 76,2 x 91,4 cm Trevor Paglen. Courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln und Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco