Floating Island

Mike Osborne

BOOK INFO 
Hardcover, 13 X 10.25 In. / 156 Pages / 62 Color 
ISBN 9780988983144 
List Price: $49.95 

“...its true focus might be what the desert unearths about America.”, - Time Lightbox, June 5, 2014

“...in both color and black-and-white photographs, he uses long exposures and quiet images to capture the complicated cycle of life and destruction in a Martian-like terrain.”,
- Hyperallergic, July 3, 2014

Also featured by American Photo Magazine, Best Photobooks of the Year, December 2014

Photographs by Mike Osborne 

Austin-based photographer Mike Osborne's Floating Island revolves around the border-straddling community of Wendover, Utah and West Wendover, Nevada. Once home to an important World War II aviation training facility, the town is now a gaming destination with five sprawling casinos. In addition to tracing this historical trajectory, Osborne's photographs reflect the fantastical aspects of the surrounding landscape. The book's title, Floating Island, refers to a small mountain located at the heart of the nearby Bonneville Salt Flats. Due to a mirage, the mountain appears to hover perpetually above the horizon line. Drawing on the phenomenon of the mirage--a real illusion--Osborne merges documentary and cinematic approaches to produce photographs that respect the particularities of the site, while also exploring the myths and fantasies that it inspires.

Featured on WiredTimeHyperallergic and Flaunt Magazine website.