Keywords

institutional critique, archival aesthetics, bureaucratic documents

Abstract

At first glance, it is apparent that this is not a typical art book or exhibition catalog. Spiral bound with various, variegated folios and sections, Devour the Land appears to be taken from a restricted archive. Indeed, everything down to the chosen fonts makes it seem as if this was a government record. Yet, it becomes quickly evident that this engaging text is not a report that federal authorities would like to broadcast. By subverting the look of a bureaucratic document, this text penetrates and probes the very system it wants to critique.

Original Publication Citation

Devour the Land: War and American Landscape Photography since 1970. Makeda Best, editor. The Journal of American Culture 46, no. 4 (December 2023): 363-364.