David Maisel's landscapes have been seriously damaged by human actions. Because they have been photographed form the air, they look surrealistic and spectacular. At the same time, at a glance it is clear just how serious the damage is. In 2001 Maisel began to record Owens Lake, THE LAKE PROJECT (2001-2004). This once covered more than two hundred square kilometers. In 1926 it almost dried up when its water was diverted to Los Angeles. The fertile vicinity changed into a barren landscape, and through its unusually high concentration of minerals the remaining water took on a red tinge. In order to combat the sandstorms that resulted from the drainage, in mid-2001 the area was again flooded. For a second time a new landscape was created as the result of large-scale human intervention.

For twenty years now the American David Maisel (b. 1961) has been photographing the destruction of nature. He works in regions that have been damaged over the past century by mining, lumbering and other human activities.