I was very attracted to the darkness and quietness in this group of work. Without any traces of the existence of people, it made me feel as if the world has stood still and the time has stopped. The dreariness is solely expressed by the rough, black gradations in the images. This work would fit very well with the monotones in the collotype process.

– Osamu Yamamoto Master Printer, Benrido Collotype Atelier

Artist Statement

In our increasingly intrusive electronic culture, how do we delineate the boundaries between public and private? “No Man’s Land: Views From a Surveillance State” is a body of work that interrogates how surveillance technology has changed our relationship to— and understanding of—landscape and place in the current geopolitical climate. To produce this work, I hack and tap into surveillance cameras and CCTV feeds in pursuit of the “classical” picturesque landscape and the sublime. The resulting visual product becomes dislocated from its automated origins and leads to an investigation of land, of borders, and power. The very act of surveying a site through these photographic systems implies a dominating relationship between man and place. How can we move forward as global community to address issues of clandestine surveillance and government abuse? Questioning the pervasive nature of surveillance is an essential conversation in our post-Edward Snowden society. Ultimately, in “No Man’s Land,” I hope to undermine these schemes of social control through these photographs— found while exploiting the technological mechanisms of power in our surveillance society.

Bio

Marcus DeSieno is a visual artist who is interested in how the advancement of visual technology continually changes and mediates our understanding of the world. DeSieno is particularly interested in the unseen political ideologies embedded in this technology. He received his MFA in Studio Art from the University of South Florida and is the Assistant Professor of Photography at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. DeSieno’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the Aperture Foundation, Center for Fine Art Photography, Candela Gallery, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, ParisPhoto, Center for Photography at Woodstock, and various other galleries and museums. His work has also been featured in a variety of publications including The Boston Globe, FeatureShoot, GUP Magazine, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, National Geographic’s Proof, PDN, Slate, Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, and Wired. DeSieno was named a selection for Photolucida’s Critical Mass 50 and an Emerging Talent by Lensculture. His first monograph, No Man’s Land: Views From a Surveillance State, was published by Daylight Books in the summer of 2018.