Paula Duvå’s Killer Machine (the sublime sky, clouds, camouflage smoke disrupting heat seeking missiles, fighter planes removed) challenge our perception of the sky delving into a body of work that explores questions of space, technology, and politics.
Paula Duvå takes documentary photography into the hyper-real, as a concrete trace of war, when she documents camouflage smoke trails from fighter jets and missiles captured during various military airshows and demonstrations throughout Denmark. The jets themselves are either gone from the frame or digitally removed, leaving only the traces behind.
In the book, Duvå repeatedly examines the same motif, resulting in a series of landscape photographs that transform the sky images into something reminiscent of war photography. Duvå’s works go beyond merely documenting the beauty of the sky and also delve into the territorial, mythical, and war-filled space that the sky represents. Who owns this space, and what do we truly see when we look up?
The work is a comment on the Danish states purchase of 27 new F-35 fighter planes whereas the first planes are delivered the same week as the book is released.
Specifications: Disko Bay ・ 2023 ・ Softcover ・ 15 × 19 cm. / 400 pages ・ English ・ 978-87-973526-7-0