South African photographer Zak van Biljon looks at the world through infrared-tinted glasses in his series, Modernising Nature. Using a technique developed for military surveillance and crop surveys, he invites us to “a fresh look at nature’s beauty in a modern era”. In a technology-driven world where we are constantly bombarded with over-filtered images, his vivid pink and red landscapes don’t aim to falsify nature, but push us instead to reflect on our perceptions of it. “We need a new way of looking at nature in the 21st century, just like the landscape painters of the 19th century who were confronted with industrialisation,” says van Biljon. Featuring canyons and mountains, lakes and sweeping fields, Modernising Nature uses strangeness to its advantage: through his unreal, hyper pigmented photographs, we’re subtly reminded of what is true and real.
Zak van Biljon currently lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland, pursuing contemporary advertising and modern art photography through digital and analogue. Visit his website and Instagram for more.
Images © Zak van Biljon / with permission