Shadows of the State - A photobook about numbers stations, covert transmissions between intelligence agencies and their undercover operatives.
The Cold War ended in 1991, but echoes of it can still be heard today. One example of this are numbers stations, short wave radio broadcasts of coded messages, believed to be intended for undercover agents in enemy states. Despite originating in the darkest days of the last century these transmissions continue today, with broadcasts occurring daily from countries including Russia, Cuba, and North Korea.
Shadows of the State is a photographic project by Lewis Bush which investigates these mysterious broadcasts and attempts to locate the likely transmitter sites of thirty of these stations. These sites are then mapped using high resolution satellite imagery and displayed alongside radio spectrograms, audio recordings, and extensive information about each station.
The result of this is a 192 page photobook, Shadows of the State, which contains information, imagery and audio from thirty of these stations. The dummy was designed by Lewis Bush and the final version by Tom Mrazauskas. Tom is an award winning designer and founder of Berlin based photobook publisher Brave Books who will published the book in an edition of 700 copies. Alongside the physical book, a dedicated website will house additional recordings, information about the stations, and an explanation of some of the research methods used to produce the book.
