Second Nature

With the uprise of mobile devices, the infrastructural needs of the telecommunication industry have exploded, and since the 1980s, cell towers have started to fill the cityscapes. In 1992, Larson Camouflage, a company formerly working for the Disney theme parks, manufactured the first tree shaped disguise for a cell tower and started an industry that spread around the globe. As of now, there are more than 1000 "trees" in Southern California alone that have become manifestations of the strange relationship between humans and nature.

The images from the series Second Nature show the artefacts of the digital age that became a part of the Southern California landscape. These camouflaged communication and surveillance infrastructures can be described as a “societal preference for ‘fake’ aesthetics over ‘ugly’ reality” (Amy Clarke).

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