Prior to the 2021 withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan after two decades of formal occupation, Aziz Hazara (b. 1992 in Wardak; lives in Berlin) photographed the “aerostats” the US military installed above the country’s largest cities and strategic positions, such as Kabul and Kandahar. Although their capabilities are classified, these aerial fixtures of the Afghanistan sky are believed to wield powerful cameras and infrared heat-sensing technology that interface with an enmeshed network of drones, CCTV, and camera towers. Photographed from distant, elevated positions that look out over major urban centers, the artist turns his lens on this invasive technology and ground-to-air surveillance apparatus, which was first introduced in Iraq and has since been deployed across the world.
