Photographer Lars Anderson is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Interactions’. To see Lars’ body of work, click on any photograph.

In the aftermath of industrial development, I study the interplay of human-made forms and transplanted organic figures. I depart from previous topographic analyses by moving living things to the fore, where they become personified. I then consider the interactions between these now-animated beings and their surroundings.

To the developers of these properties the organic elements functioned as objects, but to me, these personified figures become sentries, prisoners, supplicants, protestors, or henchmen.

Meanwhile, the rectilinear, human-imposed forms – manifestations of an impulse to dominate – loom, contain, and constrain. Instruments of surveillance, production, and illumination gesture toward the heroes and villains in various ways, further informing our characterizations.

This dynamic causes varied reactions to the main characters, depending on the roles we have ascribed to them. Since interpretations of the personified figures and their situations change from image to image, tension persists across the series as we oscillate between alliance and opposition.

Lars Anderson was born in Perry, Iowa, USA.  As a child, he sketched other-worldly industrial landscapes and drafted architectural plans for buildings that would never exist.

Amid echoes of his formative work, Anderson explores the industrial and post-industrial realms of the United States. In his current practice, he treats infrastructure as visual metaphor, examining concepts related to impermanence, mediated reality, and the human impulse to dominate.

Anderson’s work has been presented internationally through solo exhibitions, numerous group shows, and books.

All images and text © Lars Anderson