Alarming Visions of the Congested Urban Spaces of the Future

By
Marnie M
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Image by Marcus Lyon/Twitter

Marcus Lyon is a photographer and artist that creates monumental visions of globalization and human movement. His photo-art is not just a snapshot of Moscow, Mumbai, or Marina del Rey, but consists of composites of many pictures that overpower the viewer with its immensity.

Lyon’s photos are meticulously planned up to the minute details, often a long time before they are shot and composed. Conceptualizing the picture (which requires gigantic amounts of research and strategizing) includes flying over a particular area, shooting the ground underneath. Then the artist point carefully stitches up to 1,000 photos to accomplish a picture that suffocates viewers with congested chaos. His works contained with claustrophobic projects such as Exodus or Timeout are an impactful social commentary on humankind’s endless consumption and ever-sprawling infrastructure, and the tremendous abyss between the rich and poor.

From Los Angeles to Hong Kong, every one of these photographs overflows with urbanization. In Lyon’s vision of the future world, there are no trees or vegetation, but the world abounds of planes, trains, and cars everywhere. In spite of the fact that Lyon’s work is obvious futuristic fiction, his pictures help the viewer to experience a future that’s kind of already come to fruition, even in a smaller scale. Lyon’s work, in general, is an arresting visual reminder of nature’s destruction caused by urbanization.