On Planet Earth: Travels in an Unfamiliar Land
by Luc Sante
Category: Photography

On Planet Earth: Travels in an Unfamiliar Land collects Jan Staller's strangely seductive photographs from locations across the United States and around the world.-from abandoned factories to military test sites, from high-tech water-purification plants to heavy machinery that looks like it fell from outer space. Staller's square-format and panoramic photographs reveal bizarre and forgotten constructions of industrial society, set against a symphony of color and light. A sense of mystery pervades Staller's images: ordinary building devices and machine parts take on the aura of Surrealist sculptures, while common construction sites echo the sacred grounds of ancient civilizations. Using long exposures and a combination of light sources-often photographing at dawn or dusk-Staller produces photographs that are breathtakingly rich in color and intensity. Complementing the images in On Planet Earth is a narrative by Luc Sante, who shares Staller's fascination with urban and industrial wastelands, the history they contain, and the mysteries they conceal. Together, Staller's photographs and Sante's text offer a stimulating, Technicolor tour of the unknown at the edge of the contemporary landscape.