Postcolonial (Images) - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Short Post-colonial Statement by Flounder Lee

For the last several years, I have been mapping interactions between indigenous peoples and various governments. I began by pulling maps from the Library of Congress of the treaties between various indigenous tribes and the United States government, overlaying them on the actual location in a GPS program, then going out and shooting at intervals along the entire boundary. I would then overlay the photographs on the original map section in a grid format for the digital print. Using the same data, I created a stop-motion video made using toy cowboy and Indians. It shows the spread of the United States through made and broken treaties.

As a counterpart to this research on the actual land and treaties, I traveled to Europe, Panama, St Martin, and many other locations where I transposed antique maps onto locations and then photographically mapped them. I mapped American colonies onto Europe and European borders onto the colonized countries. When I began thinking of the rifts between the continents, I immediately thought of the Panama Canal as the literal representation. St Martin is the smallest island shared by two colonial powers. Many other parts of the world were colonized at various points by Europeans and I map these in an ongoing part of the project. For all of these series, I used a similar style of overlaying a map, following the borders, and photographing at preset intervals.

Through all of these related projects I seek to illuminate a history that has been sanitized and distorted. Making the photographs using preset conditions instead of my own ideas of photographic beauty is a process that is hard to accept, but important for my process of understanding. The arbitrary notion of borders is one thing I am seeking to bring to the table. The ludicrous nature of colonizing another country is another part that intrigues and yet baffles me.
Fourteen Images from this project are shown below :



Postcolonial - Connecticut in London - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Connecticut in London



Postcolonial - France in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - France in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam



Postcolonial - France in Byblos, Lebanon - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - France in Byblos, Lebanon



Postcolonial - France in Marigot - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - France in Marigot



Postcolonial - Manhattan in Amsterdam - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Manhattan in Amsterdam



Postcolonial - Netherlands in Yogyakarta, Indonesia - by Flounder Lee (USA6

Postcolonial - Netherlands in Yogyakarta, Indonesia



Postcolonial - North America 1849, Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - North America 1849, Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama



Postcolonial - Spain in San Ramon, Costa Rica - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Spain in San Ramon, Costa Rica



Postcolonial - Novia Scotia in Glasgow - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Novia Scotia in Glasgow



Postcolonial - Portugal in Galle, Sri Lanka - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Portugal in Galle, Sri Lanka



Postcolonial - South America, 1820 in Panama (City) - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - South America, 1820 in Panama (City)



Postcolonial - United States 1919 in Colón (former School of the Americas) - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - United States 1919 in Colón (former School of the Americas)



Postcolonial - Western Hemisphere 1781 in Lake Gatun (Panama Canal) - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Western Hemisphere 1781 in Lake Gatun (Panama Canal)



Postcolonial - Western Hemisphere 1781 in Lake Gatun (Panama Canal), detail - by Flounder Lee (USA)

Postcolonial - Western Hemisphere 1781 in Lake Gatun (Panama Canal), detail