DRONE

A blind, uncritical follower of an ideology or belief.

One who does tedious, menial work or appears to lack emotion, concern or enthusiasm.


An individual who contributes nothing and lives off the labors of others.

A pilotless, remotely controlled aircraft utilized as a weapon, for surveillance, transporting or recreational use.


A sustained, monotonous sound, hum or buzz. 

installation images

Life Cycles (series of 18)

The mundane and often unknowing patterns we do daily over our lifetimes. 


2018

Series of 18 working clocks on wood with image transfer

drone strikes (series of 4)

Drone Strikes, Afghanistan

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018


3,952 drone strikes confirmed

US drones and jets have been bombing Afghanistan since late 2001. The strikes in Afghanistan are under the ultimate command of US Air Force Central Command (Afcent), the Air Force component of the unied Central Command (Centcom). Centcom is in charge of the US’s wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. 


The Bureau started recording strikes in 2015, when 411 US air attacks hit Afghanistan – a fall of a third from 2014. is was the lowest number of strikes in a year in Afghanistan since 2006,

though it was almost as many strikes recorded in 11 years of US drone operations in Pakistan.


The US has been targeting a variety of armed groups in Afghanistan this year, such as al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, Islamic State’s Afghan franchise Islamic State – Khorasan, the Pakistan Taliban,  and the Afghan Taliban.

Drone Strikes, Pakistan

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018


430 drone strikes confirmed

The US has been carrying out drone strikes in Pakistan since June 2004. Since then there have been more strikes on the country than on any other beyond Afghanistan.


The strikes in Pakistan are under the command of the CIA alone, unlike in Yemen and Somalia where the military and CIA operate together. Initially the strikes were launched from airbases inside Pakistan. However US-Pakistani relations soured in 2011 and the US drones were expelled across the border into Afghanistan.


The CIA occasionally launched strikes in Pakistan for the first few years of the campaign. e attacks increased in frequency in 2008, the last year of the George W Bush presidency. However, when President Barack Obama moved into the White House, the strike frequency increased dramatically. More strikes were launched during President Obama's first year in office than during both terms of the Bush presidency.

Drone Strikes, Somalia

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018


114 drone strikes confirmed


The US has been carrying out extensive covert operations in

Somalia since 2001. 


The Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is the lead agency in the US's covert war on terror in Somalia, though the CIA has a strong presence in the Horn of Africa. 


Elite troops from the Pentagon’s JSOC are routinely deployed on the ground for surveillance, reconnaissance, and assault and capture operations. In June 2011, the US began carrying out drone strikes in Somalia. JSOC has its own fleet of armed Reaper drones, which are own from various bases in the region.


The CIA also operates a secret base at Mogadishu airport, according to a detailed investigation by Jeremy Scahill at the Nation.

Drone Strikes, Yemen

Digital collage on Aluminum

2018


302 drone strikes confirmed


The first known US drone strike outside of Afghanistan hit Yemen in 2002, killing six people. e US carried out its second reported attack in the country after a pause of more than seven years.


Both the Pentagon and CIA have carried out strikes in Yemen from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti and a base in Saudi Arabia at an as yet unknown location. The military strikes are carried out under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command. This shadowy special forces unit has at times reportedly halted its strikes after botching strikes and killing civilians.


The US has also launched strikes with other weapons systems, including conventional jet aircraft and cruise missiles. The Bureau records these operations as "other US operations" .

one divided planet (Left, RIGHT)  2018 Photography in embedded glass

we go shopping (triptych)  2018 Digital collage, image transfer on wood

4 drones of the apocalypse (work, conform, obey, die)  2018 Neon

The end is calling 2018 Digital collage on aluminum

Its a drone world Duration 54:54 . 2018

Video

We believe that we have free will, yet we adhere to ancient traditions, we fall into routines - daily commute to work, we compare each other on social media, we live in small bubbles - shielding ourselves from different ways of living.


We are manipulated through advertising - to farm us from our money, we are seduced by money. We live ultimately for money.


For the brief time that ‘intelligent life’ has existed in the known universe, humanity has concocted a way of life that is a distraction from life. Why do we exist - are you aware of your existence - of your footprint on earth? Do you blindly adhere to what society expects of you without question? Are we just a means for others to get ahead at another's expense. And where are we heading, and who is deciding that direction. If life is a ‘miracle’ (which is hard to believe with the population closing in on 8 billion) then why do we divide, hate, torture, dominate, ridicule, bully, rape and kill life?


Will we evolve as a species and create nirvana, or march into extinction as we stare soullessly into our smartphones?

© 2024 Stephen Anderson