Review of: Denis Cosgrove and William L. Fox, Photography and Flight. London, Reaktion Books, 2010

Abstract

The permissive explorations of such photographic artists as David Maisel, Michael Light, and Laura Kurgen conclude this study. Following in the aerial footsteps of Ruscha, Maisel takes photo- graphs of the Los Angeles topography from 10,000 feet, reversing its opalescent light by printing his images in negative so that the pale sky becomes ominously black, buildings appear white e ‘hollowed out as if by bombs’ (p. 134) e and the freeways become winding arteries, lending an overall impression of apocalypse summarized in the title of Maisel’s series Oblivion. As Cosgrove and Fox point out, their ‘sunshine and noir’ iconography pays no homage to the convention of mapping. They refuse to offer conciliatory means of orientation. Instead they decouple us from the familiar and force us to approach the urban on new, if uncannily familiar, terms