Grounded

monochrome photograph of cannibalized aircraft laying in desolate landscape.
Series from the Aerospace Regeneration Facility in Tucson, AZ, captured in 2003-2005.
monochrome photograph of cannibalized aircraft laying in desolate landscape.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
GROUNDED, series from the Aerospace Regeneration Facility in Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
GROUNDED, series from the Aerospace Regeneration Facility in Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
GROUNDED, series from the Aerospace Regeneration Facility in Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ. (B-52 Bomber cuts)
GROUNDED, series from the Aerospace Regeneration Facility in Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
GROUNDED, series from the Aerospace Regeneration Facility in Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.
Untitled, from GROUNDED Series, captured in 2003-2004, Tucson, AZ.

1

The images from GROUNDED are both real and imaginary, existing along the line between the seen and unseen, the mythologized and the hidden. I created these images while on active duty with the USAF, assigned to the Davis Monthan Air Force Base, and put in charge of the public image of this specialized aerospace maintenance hub.

These metal bodies are arranged in the southwest United States desert for the purpose of being recorded by satellites2, seen in shared images, imagined and staged as proof of certain demilitarization treaties, but also meant to uphold notions of supremacy – a proof of just how much firepower our national arsenal holds.

Can we separate the worst aspects of war and the military complex from the mechanized-spiritual and mythical wonders of flight, of movement, of speed?

Latent images captured 2003-2004, then developed & printed 2008. Initial prints lost in a house fire in 2008, and reprinted 2010 and 2012.

  1. The 309th AMARG takes care of nearly 4,000 aircraft, which makes it the largest aircraft storage and preservation facility in the world. ↩︎
  2. In the 1990s, in accordance with the START I treaty, the center was tasked with eliminating 365 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers.[10] The progress of this task was to be verified by Russia via satellite and first-person inspection at the facility. ↩︎