Invisible: Covert Operations and Classified Landscapes is Trevor Paglen’s longawaited first photographic monograph. Social scientist, artist, writer, and provocateur, Paglen has been exploring the secret activities of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies—the “black world”—for the last eight years, publishing, speaking, and making astonishing photographs. As an artist, Paglen is interested in the idea of photography as truth-telling, but his mysterious, compelling pictures o!en stop short of traditional ideas of documentation. Invisible highlights the array of tactics used by Paglen to depict both what can and cannot be seen. In the series Limit Telephotography, he employs highend optical systems to photograph top-secret governmental sites. In The Other Night Sky, Paglen works with the data of amateur “satellite watchers” to track and photograph classified spacecra! in Earth’s orbit, while in other works he roots out revealing, yet arcane documents—passports, flight data, aliases of CIA operatives—and transforms them into art objects. Showcasing the artwork of an important emerging talent, Invisible speaks to the multidisciplinary practices employed by many of today’s most interesting contemporary artists. Rebecca Solnit, noted author on culture and photography, contributes a searing essay that traces this history of clandestine military activity on the American landscape.
