A sepia-toned photo of a rocky, mountainous prehistoric landscape with scaffolding structures under cloudy skies. Text below reads “Mesozoic Park: Terry Munro.” Inspired by the ancient terrain of Calgary, Canada. By Black Dog Online.
A black-and-white photograph captures a pyramid under restoration, scaffolded against the landscape; opposite, the text reads “Pyramid No. 24, Gebel Barkal, Nubia, 1914.” In the distance, elements of a primordial terrain conjure echoes of Mesozoic Park: Terry Munro from Black Dog Online.
Two black-and-white photos of a rocky, prehistoric landscape in Calgary, Canada—from rebar and scaffolding on the left to eroded rock formations reminiscent of Black Dog Online’s “Mesozoic Park: Terry Munro” on the right.
Open to a spread from “Mesozoic Park: Terry Munro” by Black Dog Online, the right page features a black and white photograph of a twin-peaked mound surrounded by lush vegetation, evoking the prehistoric landscapes near Calgary. The left page displays minimal, centered text.

Mesozoic Park: Terry Munro

$35.00

Danielle Siemens (Introduction)

Paperback, 30 × 30 cm | 12 × 12 in, 68 pages

ISBN 978-1-912165-16-2

Availability: In Stock
--

Quantity:

Mesozoic Park is an intriguing series of photographs documenting the construction of a (pseudo) prehistoric landscape in Calgary, Canada in the early 1980s. The history of photography has been dominated by the landscape: from its state as a pristine natural phenomenon, to its altered forms, and then to the manufactured, of which the city’s Prehistoric Park is a prime example. The site includes multiple geologic structures that humans have built to mimic nature. The images in the monograph address the illusions that humanity creates for itself, as in our increasing quest to find substitutes for ‘the real’. The simulated environment in Mesozoic Park focuses on the earth and landscape as packaging or amusement, and more importantly, as a site for social and political inquiry.


The black and white photographs, printed in duotone, document a geological dream world in which a ‘primordial’ landscape has been cleverly designed and programmed for an artificial visitor experience. By exploring the park in great detail, Munro offers privileged access to what we never get to see: the construction of a facsimile panorama that will provide visitors with the illusion of time travel. The real and false are confused, no longer relevant in this walk through a purported 65 million year-old landscape. The book also contains photographs which show the artificial human construct in 2018.