DRONES - NO DRONES - DRONES - NO DRONES: ONLINE EXHIBITION

Mass Exodus

PLAYFUL EXERCISE?

This online exhibition is an exercise. It plays with the positioning of images. 

I have placed a non-drone painting, then a weaponised airborne drone painting, one after the other. 

What happens when I position paintings that do not depict drones, or indications of their presence, with images of weaponised drones? Are the non-drone paintings of trees-of-life, Australia, and the sun, colonised by the drone images? Or, do the paintings depicting trees-of-life, Australia and the sun remind us of life in the face of  destructive technologies? In a sense, do they combat the drone images? 

If you took the non-drone paintings away from the images of weaponised drones, are they different paintings? Without a militarised context, do they lose agency or gain it? Or, if you have seen them positioned with the paintings depicting militarised technology, can you ever forget - unsee?

The last two paintings depict human figures, Through the Mist of Time and Forever Watched. The latter does not depict a weaponised drone, but it does indicate surveillance - or does it? As I placed these last two paintings, I saw that Through the Mists of Time could provide another perspective for Forever Watched? A perspective that was not militarised. What do you think? 

COSMIC LANDSCAPES

All the paintings are landscapes - cosmic landscapes, landscapes where you too can fly. This poses even more questions, but I will leave them for you to ask.

All the paintings in this post are from 2016 and 2017, and they are all gouache on paper. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

 Not a Game

 Across Time and Space

 New Sky

 Between Existences

 Persistent Surveillance and Strike

 Run Off

 Sky Drone Net

Future and Past

 Anomaly Detection

 A New Sun, A New Day - Somewhere

Combat Proven, Long Range, Long Dwell

Through the Mists of Time

 Forever Watched

NEW TERRAIN

The New Terrain Gouache o paper 56 x 76 cm 2018

As I have previously mentioned, I am interested in making visible the invisible signals that enable contemporary technological inter-connectivity. I 'see' signals wrapping the planet, extending into the sky and into space. Signals enable the operation of designated militarised technology, dual-use civilian/military technology and the appropriative capabilities of state and non-state entities, aberrant groups or individuals. Regarding the latter, think of election interference, cybercrime and so on.

SIGNALSCAPE

In my view signals that ricochet around the world, from land-based, sky based and space based nodes, create a new type of landscape - a signalscape. This signalscape is an invisible colonising force that forms a dense net that volumetrically occupies the biosphere and extends to space-based assets in low Earth orbit and geostationary orbit. 

This net is not a neutral force, as it represents a persistent readiness for action which includes a  constant readiness for offensive and defensive activities. In other words we live in a world that is constantly ready for war, twenty-first century style. Seen this way the invisible signalscape holds us hostage. I wrote about this in a recent post called HOSTAGE.

THE NEW TERRAIN

In The New Terrain I have made visible a section of the new signalscape. It appears to be glimpsed between clouds. However, the clouds may be a ruse. Taking the nomenclature of The Cloud maybe the netting is too small for us to see, hence the cloudy appearance? Maybe the area I have exposed is closer to the viewer, just one layer if the volumetric occupation? 

As with many of my paintings, the viewer could be above the new occupying signalscape. Maybe you are beyond the busy orbits of enabling satellites? However, you could be on land looking up and through the signalscape, its layered nets wrapping around you, even stroking you as you move in your environment - unaware of your hostage situation.

I have deliberately used the word 'terrain' in the title for two main reasons. The first is that it is linked to ideas of landscape and landscape features, and secondly it has military potential.

Cheers,

Kathryn

MILESTONES

Do You Know, Have You Met? Mixed media on paper 37 x 27 cm 1991

MILESTONES

My daughter is getting married next year. With the flurry of excitement about planning for a wedding I have reflected upon life's milestones. When I was pregnant with this daughter, my first child, I painted a series of works about her immanent birth - certainly a milestone! My maternal grand-mother, born in the nineteenth century, passed away - another milestone, a sad one -  shortly before my daughter was born, making many of these images a kind of homage to ancestry and the cycle of life.

You will notice that the pregnant figure in a few of the selected paintings seems to have multiple shadows, or iterations of herself. Maybe these are ancestral figures, maybe they are multiple aspects of the expectant mother, maybe a plethora of interpretations.... 

My last blog post Twelve Years Blogging - Twelve Paintings was an online exhibition of twelve paintings, one from each year since 2006, when I first started blogging. 

BUT, there was life and painting long before Blogspot! 

The selected paintings in this new post are from 1991, the year we bought our first mobile phone, I got a home computer, and had a baby - in the twentieth century!

Homage Mixed media on paper 37 x 27 cm 1991

COSMOLOGY

Regular readers will notice the cosmic appearance of these 1991 paintings. As you know, I still fly into the cosmos - and invite you to fly with me - in my work today! 

The babies, pregnant bellies and figures float against indefinite spaces, cosmological in possibility. In these spaces, circles and dots could be read as planets or atoms, star dust or thoughts. The tree-of-life also appears in these paintings. Here, though, the tree-of-life is linked to a familial tree, a more intimate one than the universal ones I depict in my later and more recent paintings. However, while intimate in intent in these 1991 paintings, the tree-of-life positioned in cosmic-like landscapes is never without universal potential.

Children Mixed media on paper 1991

1991

If you think about these 1991 paintings and my recent dronescape paintings, you can possibly see where my concerns about the future of humanity, in the age of the drone and the algorithm, spring from. I will leave you to think about that...but...the first Gulf War erupted in August 1990 and officially ended in February 1991, a few months before my first child was born. This war, however, never really ended, it just morphed into ongoing conflict, with battlefields existing in real and virtual spaces. These distributed battlespaces blur the lines between military, counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism and security activities. War is now a hybrid of conventional and unconventional warfare, the latter appropriating civilian technological systems and platforms to perpetrate new modes of war, such as cyberwar. Airborne drones were used in the first Gulf War, for surveillance - they were weaponised in the second Gulf War, and continue to be used in declared and non-declared war/battle situations.  

So, in the years since the birth of my first child, the world has changed.

A Pure Life, Haunted Mixed Media on paper 1991

THEMES

It is interesting to me, and I hope for the reader, to identify elements that continue to appear in my work over many years. Even though subject matter has changed, underlying themes have not. Some of these themes, such as cosmology, initially appeared before I had the words or terms to ascribe to them. 

As I have written this post, I am also struck by the links between my recent work dealing with the apparatus of war and conflict in the twenty-first century, and a personal life milestone that occurred in 1991, the year War did not really end. 

But, back to these 1991 paintings. They are joyous images. I am glad I still have some, especially as we are about to celebrate another joyous milestone.

Cheers,
Kathryn

Where Are You? Mixed media on paper 1991

IN THE STUDIO - AND - OFFICE

Various oil paintings in my studio aka: garage.

I have been busy in the studio and my office over the last months, and weeks. 

The photo above shows some of my recent oil paintings, done over the last 6-7 months - the one on the easel is underway. Since completing my Master of Philosophy [Art History & Cultural Studies], University of Queensland, I have returned to my oil paints - with gusto. While I undertook the degree I painted only on paper. I did this because a work on paper is easier to leave and come back to. [see photos of works on paper below].

RESEARCH

As regular readers know, my academic research included examining the various legal, ethical and political issues surrounding contemporary militarised technology, particularly the airborne drone. Regular readers also know that I examined various technical aspects of weaponisable airborne drones - not a normal art historical approach! However, I believed this kind of research was very important. Why? To equip me with specific information to assist my visual analyses of paintings, that depicted aspects of contemporary militarised technology, by Australian artists George Gittoes and Jon Cattapan. 

The stimulus for my academic research came from my interest in existential risk posed by emerging technologies. When I was offered the post-graduate degree opportunity, I knew I wanted it to include a multi-disciplinary approach. I wanted a major part of my research to feed back into my studio practice - even though the degree was not a practice lead degree. The research into ethical, political and legal issues surrounding contemporary militarised technology is valuable, but the technical research into weaponisable airborne drones and their capabilities, has been pivotal.   

Preparing Powerpoint for presentation in San Francisco 

VISUAL POLITICS

While I was at the University of Queensland [and I still am, as a Honorary Fellow in the School of Communications and Arts] I became involved in a fascinating and burgeoning research area in International Relations - Visual Politics. As a result of meeting many thoroughly interesting and knowledgeable people, I have been included in a few activities relating to Visual Politics. 

One exciting opportunity is being on a panel "War Art: Museums, Militarisation and Militantism" at the International Studies Association annual conference in San Francisco in April. The photo above is an image of my preparations for this conference. As I wrote in the first line of this post, I have been busy in my office too. 

There are a few other opportunities likely in New York and London - will keep you posted once I have details. 

 Various larger works on paper - Dronescapes

Various smaller works on paper - Dronescapes

AUSTRALIA

In light of recent statements by the Chief of the Australian Army, Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell, about Australia's readiness for increasingly autonomous weapon systems, and news about the Australian government's $3.8 billion underwriting to boost arms exports, I invite you to read a post I wrote in September 2016 Aeropolitics Imagined. This post includes two paintings of the Australian continent - and - drones. I will leave you to take a look!

NEWS

• Another article about my paintings has just been published, this time in The Culture Concept. Please read  Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox: Reach for the Sky: Art Above. The writer, Carolyn McDowell places my work into art historical contexts, but also draws out its contemporary relevance. Thank you The Culture Concept!

• I was asked to write a visual essay for Dialogue: Taking Politics Outside the Box, an e-journal located in the School of Political Science and International Relations, University of Queensland. New Landscapes in the Drone Age was published last week.

• Early alert: Cosmological Landscapes solo exhibition at Dogwood Crossing, Miles, Queensland, Australia: 28 March - 22 May. It is well over two years since my submission was accepted and the show is nearly here! More news about the show coming soon. 

Cheers, Kathryn

RETURN OF THE TURPS

"Return of the Turps" is not about me returning to binge drinking - I've not ever binged my alcohol! Rather, it is about me returning to my oil painting. Yes, the smell of turpentine again wafts through my studio [aka garage] and my house. 

After nearly two years completing my Master of Philosophy research thesis at the University of Queensland, I have not only submitted my thesis for examination - it has been returned by both examiners, with terrific feedback, and no requests for changes or corrections. I am VERY happy. 

While I was researching I did not give up my painting practice. Rather, I only worked on paper, using gouache and watercolour paints. My paintings were not part of my university assessment, but as regular readers will know, I've been quite productive! I have quite a large body of what I call "dronescapes". They reflect upon my academic research into militarised drones! 

However, since submitting my thesis, I have now returned to my oil paints. 

In my last post Research Into Drones: How It Has Influenced My Creative Practice I explained how my university research topic came out of my painting practice - and - how the research has, in turn, influenced my practice. But there is something else. What has surprised me is the how two years of only working on paper has caused slight changes in how I paint with oil paints on stretched canvas. I cannot quite put my finger on it yet, but it feels different, and I think the paintings I am working on, look slightly different. This is welcomed! As a painter I want to develop and respond to influences. Regurgitating the same thing or look is not on my agenda - I bore too easily!

               

New oil paintings in progress. On the left is The Green Eyed Drone. It's not quite ready. The other two paintings are in their very early stages.

STUDIO PHOTOS

The two studio photos above show various works in progress. As you can see from the photo immediately above, the painting on the left, The Green Eyed Drone, continues my interest in thinking about militarised drones, surveillance and more. The tree-of-life is also there. I might discuss this new work in my next post - depending on whether I think it is finished. Time will tell.

The painting on the easel in the photo immediately above, is also in the photo at the top. However, in the top photo I have worked on it and, as you can see, I continue to work on it. I am thinking of calling it Zone. 

I am thoroughly enjoying being in amongst the mess of oil paint - paint on my hands, in my hair even, on my face [a surprise to see in the mirror as I quickly check my appearance before leaving the house]. I am also enjoying wearing very old clothes, wiping my hands across them, dabbing my brush on sleeves - and so on. 

Until next week,

Cheers,

Kathryn

RESEARCH INTO DRONES: HOW IT HAS INFLUENCED MY CREATIVE PRACTICE

Dronescapes in my storage drawers

About ten days ago I submitted my Master of Philosophy thesis. For the last nearly two years I've spent most days at my desk at the University of Queensland, School of Communication and Arts. In the evenings and some weekends, I spent time in my studio, painting. It was here that I worked through my research in a different way. Regular readers will know, it has been quite productive!

My university research was focused on  how two Australian artists, George Gittoes and Jon Cattapan, represent contemporary militarised technology in their paintings. Particular attention was paid to their responses to using night vision technology, and in the case of Gittoes, witnessing the deployment of airborne drones. I examined the various moral, ethical and political questions raised by their work. I won't write too much about this aspect of my thesis - as I am looking into publishing articles about each artist. If they get published, I shall let you know!

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2017

My thesis was examined with in two weeks of submission, with no requests for changes and no corrections! And, I have been awarded a Honorary Fellowship in the School of Communications and Arts, University of Queensland. One of the examiners strongly encouraged me to write a book, so this is something I am pursuing during my Fellowship. 

ART HISTORY - And OTHER DISCIPLINES

Although I was in the Art History department, my research crossed into other disciplines, including Cultural Studies, International Relations and Political Science. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed technical research into militarised drones and night vision, and other cyber and digital technologies associated with their operation and deployment. 

The technical research, coupled with cultural, legal and philosophical critiques of militarised drone technology, inspired my own creative work; my out-of-hours responses to the pictures that popped into my head as I read book after book, article after article, explored drone manufacturer websites, and delved into the history of drone technology and night vision. 

Larger Dronescapes in my map drawers

CREATIVE PRACTICE - ACADEMIC RESEARCH

But, this kind of inspiration is not a departure from my interests prior to commencing my M. Phil. For example, my earlier paintings depicting strings of binary code reflect interests in contemporary technology, and its effects on humanity and life. By juxtaposing code with the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life these earlier paintings also reflect my responses to ideas about existential risk posed by emerging technologies. At uni I had to narrow my topic to specific contemporary technologies. Thus, the focus on militarised technology - drones and night vision's association with increasing surveillance. 

My academic research topic came out of my painting practice - and it has fed back into it. My creative work completed during the last nearly two years is not part of the degree in a formal sense, but I consider it a major contributor to processes of critical thinking and the generation of new ideas. These have influenced both my academic research and my creative inspiration.

BODY OF WORKS ON PAPER

As the photos above demonstrate, I have a lot of paintings to show for my near two years of study. Actually between 80 -90 paintings, some smaller and some larger. They are all works on paper, because I knew oil painting would take too long and I'd be torn between spending time in the studio and at university. Neither activity would have benefited from this! These works on paper, though, track my research processes in ways that enabled spontaneous reaction to the research. The whole experience was really rewarding.

I'd love to exhibit these paintings. Curatorially there are a few aspects that could be developed!

A few exciting things happened during my study with regards to my own paintings. 

• My work was featured by the Center For The Study of the Drone, Bard College, New York - Portfolio: Dronescapes by Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox 
• My painting Gorgon Stare heads Dr. Christopher J Fuller's post on Yale University Press's Blog Yale Books Unbound in the lead up to the publication of Fuller's book See It/Shoot It
• My painting The Tree of Life Sends its Energy Underground is on the front cover of The Australian Women's Book Review 27, no 1 and 2. Additionally my article “Airborne Weaponised Drones and the Tree-of-Life” was also published.
• My painting Red Rain is on the cover of HECATE 42/1 (2016) and an article by me is included in the publication.

RETURN TO OIL PAINTING

The photo below is of two stretched canvases. Yes, the aroma of turps has returned to the studio and house. 

NEWS

My entry, Universal Code, for the inaugural $35,000 Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize has been selected as a finalist. The Award is announced on August 4.

Cheers,

Kathryn

AS I FLEW PAST EARTH, I NOTICED EVIDENCE OF DRONES

As I Flew Past Earth, I Noticed Evidence of Drones, Gouache on paper 76 x 56 cm, 2017

In As I Flew Past Earth, I Noticed Evidence of Drones I have imagined being in a spacecraft, or being a speck of star dust, or being some kind of super force flying around the universe. As I pass by planet Earth I notice evidence of drones, their surveillance and targeting signals. How many drones - I cannot tell. 

I also notice signs of life, human and non-human - fragmented, turned upside down, hidden. However, there are also signs of defiance, regeneration, hope.

AERIAL PERSPECTIVE

Regular readers will observe that in this new painting I've taken an aerial perspective, yet again. Indeed, this perspective is evident in most of my work. I like to fly! I also like to think I can take the viewer with me, way beyond Earth, but also perhaps right up close, even inside its crust. This kind of imaginative flying could be a really significant capability in the 'drone age'. As airborne drones loiter in skies, hovering above terrain, scoping with their various surveillance capabilities, our horizons are netted with signals and vertically delivered potential threats. 

PANOPTICON

The airborne drone channels ideas of a panopticon with an intent to observe without being seen. Eighteenth century social theorist Jeremy Bentham proposed a panopticon as an institution designed for inmates, where a single guard could observe prisoners without being seen. That the guard could not be seen meant that prisoners were never sure if someone was observing or how many might be observing. Are we and other living creatures 'inmates' on a planet increasingly surveilled by drones? Should we also think about how satellite infrastructure, currently conscripted to aid communication and environmental awareness for drone operation, is utilised for surveillance and other potentially more lethal purposes? I claim we need to fly beyond our droned skies and beyond orbiting communication and GPS satellites,ie:  way beyond low Earth orbit, geostationary orbit and high Earth orbit, to get some perspective! 

So, if we can 'fly' around the drone and space-based enabling infrastructure then maybe we can subvert the power drone capabilities insidiously deploy. We can, with imagination, turn ourselves into observers with truly full spectrum temporal and spatial agency. 

The trees-of-life in As I Flew Past Earth, I Noticed Evidence of Drones are showing us how - don't you think?

Cheers,

Kathryn  

THE LEAVES ARE LEAVING

The Leaves Are Leaving gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

THE WORLD

As masses of people flee their homes, due to war, conflict, drought, famine, poverty and suppression of many kinds, what does it mean for the soul of humanity? Displaced people flee homes in one country to seek refuge in another, some leave homes to live a homeless life in their own countries, and others never find new homes except in camps and settlements for displaced people. Others, die trying to find a new path. 

As the world runs amok people retreat to extreme beliefs, setting up polarisations that neuter balanced political traction, social cohesion and cultural understanding. Retreat to extremes represents another kind of exodus. A kind of exodus that seems to make things worse.

THE LEAVES ARE LEAVING

In the Leaves Are Leaving a mass of people are on the move, their silhouettes atop a hilly horizon. All the people are red. A flame-like swathe of red leaves shoots upwards into a turbulent sky which is dotted with groupings of red dots. I've deliberately painted the people, the leaves and the dots red - because they all represent the same thing - life. 

Regular readers will know that the leaves are from the tree-of-life, a recurrent theme in much of my work. Here, the tree is not portrayed. It has relinquished its leaves, sending them to seek refuge and safety in realms beyond. 

SUN/DRONE AND DUAL USE

The colourful radiating rays peeping through the stormy clouds could be a sun, but regular readers will realise that they could also be the surveillance and targeting signals of an obscured drone. These rays are symbolic of the insidious infiltration of militarised style surveillance that pervades our physical and online lives. That the rays could be a sun or a drone's surveillance signals demonstrates the increasingly blurred lines between civilian and military use of digital and cyber infrastructures and systems. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

CAN THE LEAVES STILL DANCE?

Can The leaves Still Dance? gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

A STORY
When my eldest child was about two and a half we were sitting on our verandah which looked over a creek. This S. E Queensland [Australia] rural setting was complete with grassy fields, cattle grazing and gum trees lining the creek banks. A faint breeze was stirring. My toddler turned to me and said "Look Mummy the leaves are dancing". The leaves were rustling in the breeze, and the sharp eyes of a two year old noticed. I will never forget this moment for a number of reasons.

I was thinking about dancing leaves when I painted Can The leaves Still Dance? 

21st CENTURY
In an age where environmental issues plague us, and droughts cause mass migrations of people, even if trees have leaves - would people notice them dancing in a breeze? In an age where we are glued to our digital devices, do we look up and around to notice leaves dancing in a breeze? In an age where cities are congested, as we traverse busy streets, sip coffee in trendy cafes and work in interior designed offices, do we notice any trees, let alone their dancing leaves? 

In the 21st century, the age of simulation, drones, surveillance and monitoring, can we still appreciate leaves dancing as a breeze rustles through a tree's branches? What if we took 'dancing leaves' and 'breeze' as co-metaphors for life transmitted symbolically in the age-old transcultural/religious tree-of-life? In  Can The leaves Still Dance? In Can The leaves Still Dance? I've included references to many trees - trees-of-life - some upright and some upside down. 

One tree acts as the figures' shadow. It is a shared shadow, maybe the shadow of all humanity - past, present and future. There are 'rivers' of leaves too. Are they fallen leaves, now dancing to another life tune? Or, maybe they are escaping? In the background radiating lines appear sun-like. But, could they be the surveillance and targeting signals of a hovering drone?

I'm sure you have stories to tell, thoughts to entertain, memories to remember and dreams to dream - so I'll leave you to think some more about Can The Leaves Still Dance? 

________________________________________________________________________________


This is another of my cosmic landscapes. Also, a dronescape. Interesting, though, that country Queensland is still there - launched to other realms of the universe!

Cheers,
Kathryn.
Please follow me on Instagram to see more images of paintings, studio shots etc. 

SPACE NET

Space Net Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

Space Net is related to another recent painting Code Empire  where I have painted Earth [or another planet?] and its moon with strings of binary code. I have not used binary code in Space Net but I was thinking about signals emanating from Earth into space - and signals emanating from space to Earth. 

AERIALS IN SPACE

In Space Net the circle could be Earth, but it could also be another planet, or it could be the centre of a space ship! The triangulated prongs could be signals or some other kind of technical infrastructure, physical or digital, that enables communication, orientation and surveillance. I painted them to look like the huge aerials my father had built beside our house on our grain farm in the middle of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. These aerials facilitated reception and transmission for my father's HAM radio communication signals. In a sense I've uprooted them and sent them into space! Here in Space Net they represent structure, even if it is unseen; the kind of digital and cyber structures that net our skies, that net the space between Earth and satellites orbiting Earth, and in some cases extending beyond. An example of the latter is Voyager 1, now travelling in interstellar space. It still sends signals that NASA can receive. That's actually quite amazing! Something human beings made is now beyond our solar system...

Space Net conjures a few thoughts - if the circle in Earth, something or someone has us covered! The planet is completely connected and surveilled, cloaked in a net of signals that create unseen avenues for power and control, but by who or what? Has the planet been colonised by the forces of the algorithm, the originators lost in time? Or, is this image a spaceship carrying humanity to its next planetary home? If so, is humanity continuing its urge to colonise or is it escaping an unsustainable Earth? 

AIRBORNE MILITARISED DRONES

As regular readers know, over the last 18 months or so, the figure of the militarised airborne drone has entered my paintings. If I don't depict the actual drone, I paint its signals, to expose their presence, to aestheticise them in ways that draw attention to them. These painted 'signals' are symbolic of the increasing persistence of monitoring, surveillance and scoping of life by remotely operated and increasingly autonomous systems. Space Net can also be read as one of my dronescapes, where drones circle the Earth casting surveillance and ever-ready targeting 'nets' across the planet.

------------------------------------------------------------

NET - SURVEILLANCE is an earlier post with 2 paintings where I have exposed a drone's signals.

DRONESCAPES     Please check out my designated DRONESCAPES page. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

FOREVER WATCHED

Forever Watched Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

In Forever Watched a group of human beings stand together under a cage of yellow rays. Is the source of these rays a spotlight, a protective force-field, surveillance signals from an obscured drone, or maybe a computer-graphic rendering of a kill zone? Maybe humanity is being lit by a star on a cosmic stage? Is it God sending divine light? Is it magic? 

This painting is another of my cosmic landscapes where I play with perspective, literal and metaphoric. With cosmic perspectives, events such as conflict and war are clearly futile, and over consumption of natural resources seems like a death wish. Risk takes on new dimensions when we really think about the fact that, for the time being anyway, Earth is our only home! Looking after it and ourselves seem like sensible things to do.

But, there are forces afoot that create and maintain tension.

The 21st century is an era of pervasive and ubiquitous surveillance. In the 22nd century, will the 21st century be considered the beginning the 'forever watched epoch'? 

Surveillance occurs when data is collected from GPS systems and mobile phone usage. And, internet usage and browsing history delivers more data. Crowd monitoring in shopping centers and at events gleans even more data. We are under surveillance at airports, our documents cross-checked, our bodies and belongings xrayed, and our movements around the globe recorded. 

There is a plethora of ways for people to be watched, passively or aggressively.

In some areas of the world airborne drones monitor individuals and groups for signs of behaviour that, for those watching, may indicate malign intent. This kind of surveillance acts as a type of military policing, placing fear into those who are constantly watched and monitored. That a drone could quickly turn from surveillance mode to killing mode couples surveillance with lethal weaponry in one device. The drone, with its various sensors, then becomes a multi faceted dexterous device - private detective, witness, analyst, prosecutor, judge and executioner combined!

Being watched, however, can be considered a way to ensure citizenry safety - a protective practice. Yet, there is something rather creepy about being under constant scrutiny. And, have things become bad enough to require constant scrutiny/protection?  Arguably, being forever watched could be considered an insidious way to insert mechanisms of control across domains. 

Welcome to the "everywhere war"(Derek Gregory, 2011).

Cosmic Testimony Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

Cheers,

Kathryn

HOT

Hot Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

CROP STUBBLE

Regular readers will have noticed a few fires in my recent paintings. The inspiration is drawn from childhood memories of my father burning crop stubble. Magnificent fires, over hectares of ground, lit the sky as it darkened...best to light fires at the stillest part of the day. These fires took over the horizon in ways that brought the Milky Way closer. Embers and stars seem to meet - fleetingly. The flat treeless plain, where my parents' farm was situated, provided fire with a 'canvas' of vast proportions.   

In my recent paintings I've transported my childhood memories into cosmic landscapes where orientation is ambiguous. I really like the sense of flying! In Hot I imagine I could be an ember or a star! You could be an ember or a star too.

SERIOUSLY, HOT

But, seriously - Hot does engage with issues relating to global warming and environmental sustainability. Here, in Australia fires and firestorms seem to have become fiercer and more regular, particularly during our long hot dry summers. 'Heated' debates about how land is prepared or not prepared for the possibility of runaway fires occur, before and after fire events. Farmers, green lobbyists, environmentalists, government departments argue about the best ways to prevent fire occurring and spreading. As the arguments continue, we approach each summer with trepidation.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES
What if the fire in Hot is Earth's last remnant, consumed by cataclysmic devastation? Or, it could be a painting of the future, when the Sun meets its demise and the solar system is destroyed. Maybe Hot is the Sun's last gasp, Earth already non-existent? Maybe it's not Earth or our Sun? Maybe, it's a fire at another cosmic address?

Other fiery paintings:

Fire and Flood: Extremus

Stirring the Dark Chasm

Anthropocene

Cheers,

Kathryn

A NEW SUN, A NEW DAY

A New Sun, A New Day Gouache and watercolour on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

Geopolitics

Geopolitical agitations are currently heightened. We have the USA bombing Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on Syrian citizens. The identity of the perpetrator of this horrendous act is contested. One country points a finger at Syrian leadership and another points a finger at covert actions by others, ghosts that seep into imaginations, adding to a fear which cannot find a ground on which to orient itself. Additionally, we have Russia and the USA metaphorically 'fisting' each other, trying to show who has the biggest muscles. Syria seems to be the mega-giants' proxy battlefield where they have inserted themselves into a civil war that seems diabolically intractable. The Russian - USA 'situation' is compounded by ongoing allegations of shifty cyber world maneuverings designed to spy and gain advantage of the other. Then, we have the USA stirring the secretive North Korea, China sitting somewhere in the middle - and the USA dropping a massive bomb onto an alleged ISIS enclave in Afghanistan. And...all of this is in addition to a long list of intrigues, attacks, would-be attacks, aftermath of attacks and political posturings occurring all over the globe. 

The Media

The media positions itself as an informational source, a valuable contributor to societal awareness of politics and its posturings. BUT, the media is also now a contested entity. Fake news has eroded the the media's spine, left it desperately tying to stand up straight. Harm has been done. What are we to believe? Public confidence is low. A lack of ground on which to orient our fears is possibly both a result of and cause of the media's inability to stand as an informational beacon. Many of the ghosts that stir fear, shifting it from place to place, exist in the virtual world where unseen algorithms spread 'news' along digital pathways at near light speed. This 'news' pops up in social media sites, online news sources and so on, to be sent back along digital pathways in quick response to 'likes', 'shares', comments and emoji reactions. 

How can we humans keep up? The ground is seemingly swept from under our feet, replaced by a constantly shifting virtual one. And, without a ground on which to firmly stand, orientation of any kind is difficult - maybe that is the real crime, the real attack, the real covert success?

A New Sun, A New Day

This 'skyscape' painting suggests waking up to a new day where peace reigns and sustainability of all kinds flourishes. Just imagine a day, and another day and another, without war, conflict, threat, surveillance, hunger, environmental erosion and all the the other plights of life in the 21st century! Imagine the ground restored so we can contemplate a new day, watch its slow birth as the sun rises and sets.

Imagine

Let us be sure that the new day, with its new sun, is not a virtual reality, one delivered by screens designed to keep our attention away from strife in the real world.

Imagine

Maybe a new sun and a new day are signs of peace on Earth - but - maybe not. 

The new sun could indicate a new planetary home?

______________________________________

P.S. My last post was also about the sun - or a sun SUN - 01010011 01010101 01001110

NEWS

NEWS

International

* Dr. Christopher J Fuller's book  See it?Shoot It: The Secret History of the CIA's Lethal Drone Program has very recently been published by Yale University Press. Dr. Fuller is an historian at the University of Southampton, UK. In the lead up to the book's launch he was asked to write a post for the Yale University Press blog, "Yale Books Unbound". He asked to have one of my paintings head his post which is titled "The CIA's Drone Policy Under Trump". Dr. Fuller's post was published online at "Yale Books Unbound" (April 10, 2017).

* Excited to tell you that my dronescapes feature in a book review of Ian Shaw's Predator Empire: Drone Warfare and Full Spectrum Dominance. The review was written by Kate Kindervater, from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA. 

Australian

My painting The Tree-of-Life Sends its Energy Underground is on the front cover of the forthcoming Australian Women's Book Review. If you click HERE you will be taken to the AWBR site where you can see the painting and also link to an article by me. 

Cheers,  Kathryn

DIORAMA - THE FUTURE

Diorama - The Future? Gouache and watercolour on paper 56 x 76 cm 2017

Please check out the interview The Centre for the Study of the Drone, Bard College, New York conducted with me about my dronescapes Portfolio: Dronescapes by Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox .

I am also thrilled that a research centre such as the Centre for the Study of the Drone believes my work has something meaningful to contribute to current debates and conversations about drone technology.

I also want to report that my reading at Wild Readings earlier this week went very well. I read short paragraphs about three of my recent paintings, New Sky, Combat Proven, Long Range, Long Dwell and Through the Mists of Time. I then read a slam drone poem I have written. 

(Below) Here's a photo of me reading. The painting you can see is Through the Mists of Time.

DIORAMA - THE FUTURE

Diorama - The Future? is not unlike two earlier and smaller works on paper Fragmented and The Tree-of-Life Sends its Energy Underground. 

The patches of red in Diorama - The Future? can indicate a few things - blood lost, life's fertility, energy lost, or maybe energy dispersed for later retrieval. These red patches act as landscape elements too, albeit possibly cosmic landscape ones. They could be mineral deposits, contour indicators, pools of energy, multiple glimpses of sunsets, bomb blasts on distant and close horizons....

The oscillation between positive and negative interpretations is deliberate. It reflects the ambiguity of orientation in the painting. Is the viewer above the landscape or are they looking down upon a landscape, or are they in front of one or maybe behind? This sense of flying around the landscape, and importantly the Reaper drone, forecloses any priority that might be given to the drone's so called 'vision'. 

The viewer's orientation is disturbed by the upright and upside-down trees-of-life, the two white ones and the row of yellow ones. The white trees act as illuminating beacons. But, the drone is also white? Ah ha! Its failed attempt to camouflage itself is revealed! The emanating rays that appear on the top left look like the rays of a sun - but - they could be the scoping signals of a drone. They contrast with the upside down white tree with its emanating branches that reveal a more complex array of networks and systems than those signaled by the emanating drone rays. Again, perhaps an attempt to camouflage a drone's intrusive surveillance and possible targeting capabilities is revealed. 

EYE IN THE SKY

By playing with orientation and ambiguous perspective the viewer becomes the 'eye in the sky' even if its in your mind's eye - imagination. Given the title of the painting Diorama - The Future? maybe the viewer is transported to the future - in imagination? Given that developments in militarised technology, such as increasingly autonomous systems, are already focused on perceived future of war needs, thinking critically about how the future might unfold is important. In some ways it is already militarised and in some minds so is imagination!

Rather than the word 'vision' to describe a drone's surveillance and targeting capabilities, I prefer the word 'scoping'. This removes the questionable habit we humans have of anthropomorphising non-human and non-living things. Scoping is a more technical term- related to targeting and surveillance. Vision, however, implies a lot more that we humans need to retain for ourselves, particularly imagination - our mind's eye!

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com 

 P.S please take a look at my new DRONESCAPES page.