Thousands Met in the California Desert to Live Out Post-Apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ Fantasies. A Photographer Was There to Capture the Action

Every September, thousands of
people gather in the Mojave
Desert outside of
California City,
California. They don DIY
masks, chains, sand-scraped leather pants, and football pads
retrofitted with spikes. They shoot up huge clouds of sand in
beaten-up cars. They play with fake guns and drink beer.

This is Wasteland Weekend, the world’s largest
post-apocalyptic-themed festival where cos-players erect a
temporary community inspired by George Miller’s
Mad Max films. It’s Burning Man meets the Thunder
Dome. 

Last year, young British
photographer Joe Pettet-Smith visited the festival, two large analog cameras
in tow. He was only hoping to get one good shot. He ended up with
an entire portfolio of striking portraits, providing a look into
the people behind this curious festival the way few have
before. 

Pettet-Smith came across
Wasteland Weekend when researching sites to shoot for
Preparations for
the Worst-Case Scenario, his series based on the cultural obsession
with doomsday scenarios, looking at entertainment events that
imagine our world in the wake of some grave—and often
fictitious—disaster: a nuclear holocaust, maybe, or an alien
takeover. The project has taken him everywhere from an escape room
overrun by zombies to the “War of the Worlds” exhibit at Disneyland.  

“It’s about psychology,” the
artist tells artnet News. “It’s about how we deal with the
uncertainty of the future and the ways in which that’s reflected in
the things we choose to do for fun.” 

Citing anxiety over issues like
Brexit and climate change, Pettet-Smith explains that our interest
in the future right now is immense. He also notes the tendency, at
least in media, to imagine a time beyond our own in almost
exclusively bleak terms. That’s why, when he first learned about
Wasteland Weekend, he knew immediately that he had to experience
it.

Pettet-Smith had never been to
the US when he made the trip. He had never even camped or been to
the desert, and he certainly didn’t own any post-apocalyptic
apparel. He flew into LA and made his way north after connecting
with a fellow Wastelander over Facebook. Knowing that he had to
dress up to be allowed in, he stopped by an army surplus store and
picked up some vintage military-grade motorcycle goggles and a camo
vest. He stashed rolls of film in the loops meant to hold shotgun
shells. He was nervous.

But when he got there, those
nerves quickly dissipated.

“It’s a really harsh environment
and they looked intimidating, but as soon as you get them chatting,
they were really friendly and inviting,” said Pettet-Smith. “It felt like an army of misfits. Some people
were genuinely anti-establishment anarchists who I have no doubt
would be comfortable if civilization did break down. Others were
just people who liked to go to cosplay events.” In almost every
case, he explains, his subjects had so much pride in their getups
that they were more than happy to show them off before his
camera.

Not long after the artist
arrived, a group of fellow campers noticed that he was getting a
little woozy—a product of the heat, the jet-lag, the exhaustion.
They sat him down and gave him an icy margarita. 

See more images from
Pettet-Smith’s Wasteland Weekend series, titled
“Anarchy
Tamed,” below.

The post Thousands Met in the California Desert to Live Out
Post-Apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ Fantasies. A Photographer Was There to
Capture the Action appeared first on artnet News.