Blue Sky Days

From: July 15, 2015 @ 11:00 EDT
To: September 6, 2015 @ 21:00 EDT

by Tomas van Houtryve
July 15 – September 6, 2015
Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona

Open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday, from 11:00AM to 9:00PM. Open on Sundays and blank holidays, from 11:00AM to 9:00PM. An opening and artist talk will be held on July 15 at 7:00PM.

In October 2012, a drone strike in northeast Pakistan killed a 67-year-old woman picking okra outside her house. At a briefing held in 2013 in Washington, DC, the woman’s 13-year-old grandson, Zubair Rehman, spoke to a group of five lawmakers. “I no longer love blue skies,” said Rehman, who was injured by shrapnel in the attack. “In fact, I now prefer grey skies. The drones do not fly when the skies are grey.”

With a camera attached to a small drone, Tomas van Houtryve traveled across America to photograph the very sorts of gatherings that have become habitual targets for foreign air strikes—weddings, funerals and groups of people praying or exercising. He also flew his camera over settings in which drones are used to less lethal effect, such as prisons, oil fields, and the US-Mexico border. The images captured from the drone’s perspective engage with the changing nature of surveillance, personal privacy and war.

More information >>