The concept of “hyperreality” was proposed...
Light painting photography turns brutalist monuments into surreal images
June 21, 2021
(updated June 21, 2021)
Published by artistvenu
the battle of sutjeska memorial monument complex, tjentište, bosnia & herzegovina | all images by yang xiao
designer and photographer yang xiao blurs the line between reality and fantasy with a photo series titled ‘ETERNAL MONUMENTS IN THE DARK’. the project focuses on brutalist and soviet modernist architecture from across eastern europe, mainly ex-yugoslavia and ex-soviet countries. shooting at night using light painting techniques, xiao transforms the real edifices into eerie and otherworldly images that look straight out of a dystopian movie.
the project started nine years ago, and since then xiao has traveled to over 40 countries to document a range of old buildings: from an abandoned iron fountain in armenia to a war memorial in bosnia & herzegovina. ‘in the last 9 years, I have been traveling around the world to capture monuments at night. mainly in ex-yugoslavia, ex-soviet, and east european countries. many of them nowadays have been abandoned and neglected,’ explains the photographer.
