by Ben Tufnell
First published 2006
Mark Reynolds, a burned-out photojournalist, discovers cryptic photographs documenting impossible land art installations across the American Southwest. Each image suggests a site-specific artwork that cannot exist: geometric patterns carved into remote desert landscapes, then immediately erased. As Reynolds tracks the mysterious creator, he uncovers a dangerous network of artists operating at the margins of perception and documentation. Someone wants these images—and their creator—to remain hidden. With each photograph he recovers, Reynolds moves closer to an underground art movement that challenges the boundaries between creation, documentation, and disappearance. But the closer he gets, the more he risks becoming another vanished trace in the landscape.
Genres: art, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: American Southwest
128 pages · Paperback · Tate Publishing