Strange Visions of the Hyper-Congested Megacities of the Future

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Photographer Marcus Lyon’s images of crammed megacities and never-ending highways might make you feel like going off the grid.

In his claustrophobic series BRICs, Exodus, and Timeout, Lyon creates large-scale visions of globalization and human activity. The images aren’t just photos of Moscow or Mumbai or Marina del Rey, but composites of hundreds of images meant to overwhelm you with the enormity of it all.

Lyon’s photographs are minutely planned to the last detail, sometimes years before they are made. After conceptualizing the image in his head—which requires tremendous research and strategizing—he flies over a specific location just once, photographing the ground below. Lyon then digitally stitches together as many as 1,000 photographs to achieve an image that drowns the viewer in congested chaos. The intricate compositions are an artful commentary on humanity’s never-ending expansion and consumption, and the vast chasm between the rich and poor. ….