To go and photograph an airbase is not only to photograph something but it is to insist on oneโs right to photograph. Youโre flexing that right.
Trevor PaglenPerhaps someday in the distant future, dinosaurs may once again rule the Earth. If they ever learn to watch the stars, then maybe they will find our ruins in the sky.
Trevor PaglenThe U.S. generally wants to solve problems with coercion. That's kind of the default way the American state wants to try to solve problems. So there are many parallels between that: mass incarceration, mass surveillance, and militarism.
Trevor PaglenThe dead spacecraft in orbit have become a permanent fixture around our planet, not unlike the rings of Saturn. They will be the longest-lasting artifacts of human civilization, quietly circling Earth until the Sun turns into a Red Giant, about five billion years from now.
Trevor PaglenArt is more than a series of images that are disembodied. Art is objects that live in real places, economies, spaces, architecture.
Trevor PaglenThe switch has been built. Maybe you trust Barack Obama not to throw that switch, and maybe you trust George Bush not to throw that switch, but as we look towards the future, we see inequality becoming more and more acute. We're seeing more and more protests against cops and this kind of thing. We're also seeing more and more natural disasters. We're seeing more and more environmental insecurity.
Trevor Paglen