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• Owl Man, Peru, 1979 A common motif on Nazca pottery, the owl man is probably a moon deity. The height of the figure is 100 feet.
The view from above
A welcome reissue of some remarkable aerial images by Marilyn Bridges, with which I first came face-to-face at the annual Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles almost 15 years ago. Among landscape photographers the discernible mark of the hand of man on the natural has long been a subject for investigation and interpretation, but never before on the magnificent scale and with the geographical range of these monochrome masterpieces. Further, while most workers have sought to interpret ‘the hand of man’ in its pejorative sense, Bridges’ sets out to make us gawp in wonder at the achievements of civilisations long gone and little understood. The 84 images in this volume have been garnered from the skies above North and South America, Britain and north west France. Pictorially the book is divided into four sections by subject matter, each preceded by an informative expert introduction giving what is known about the structures on display. And while the words undoubtedly provide valuable context, it is the images that are king – one could gaze at them in amazement for ages. And, all those years ago in southern France, that is exactly what I did. CD
Markings: Sacred Landscapes from the Air, photographs by Marilyn Bridges, published by Aperture, $24.95, ISBN 0 89381 423 7
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