Lot #34: Paul Shambroom

Paul Shambroom Radiation check (National Center for Combating Terrorism, Nevada Test Site), 2005 Archival inkjet print Edition: 4 of 8 24 x 30 inches Courtesy of the artist   Estimated value: $4,000 Starting bid: $2,800   Paul Shambroom (American, 1956) Paul Shambroom’s series Security (2003-2007) examines issues of fear, safety and liberty in post-9/11 America. Over four years he photographed facilities, equipment and personnel involved in the massive government and private sector efforts to prepare for and respond to terrorist attacks within the nation’s borders. First responders and law enforcement officers train in large-scale simulated environments such as “Disaster City” in Texas and “Terror Town”, an abandoned mining community in New Mexico purchased with funds from the Department of Homeland Security. Training scenarios, by necessity, involve simulated environments and threats. This blurring of fiction and truth mirrors the difficulty we have discerning between legitimate safet