Light of God – James Bridle

Light of God is an attempt to provide a visual equivalent to what the drone operator of Omer Fast’s Five Thousand Feet is the Best provides as ‘light of God’. It is a ray of laser light used in Afghanistan and in Iraq to aim the target for a missile, which is visible only with special tools of the US army.

The image is realised with a manipulation of a picture of the Iraqi desert taken by Rob Bakker; it depicts a man, a modern wayfarer, in front of the sublime vision of a technology that almost resembles a godly manifestation. The greatness of nature is just in the background of the destructive power of mankind.

In his work, James Bridle aims to point out a series of control and destruction systems that are based on invisibility, thus revealing also the extent to which our comprehension of the present times is influenced by what we cannot acknowledge or see.

Monica Poggi

James Bridle, Light of God, 2012.

© James Bridle 2014.