Brett Van Ort: Minescape

A Texan photographer who divides his time between London and Los Angeles, Brett Van Ort started out as a camera assistant and operator working on various films, documentaries, commercials and television shows. He has always been fascinated by land and how we use it to both our benefit and detriment. Minescape documents the legacy of land warfare on the social and natural landscape in Bosnia that continues to render many portions of the country impassable. "These pieces show the regenerative power of nature and human beings' insatiable appetite to expand, explore, conquer and transform nature into civility," Van Ort states. The photographs range from images of the mines themselves, set on stark white backgrounds, to landscapes that are unusable until meticulously cleared and images of prosthetic limbs. In Minescape, Van Ort portrays human technology as an agent that maims or heals, while the natural world remains edenic.