Mike Osborne began his series “Federal Triangle” in 2016, after living in Washington, D.C. for a number of years. It is named after the triangular cluster of government buildings located between the Capitol Building and the White House, and is part of the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. However, Osborne photographs beyond its confines, capturing the trappings of bureaucracy in the most unassuming corners of the city. Security Perimeter / H Street NW is characteristic of the kind of deadpan humor and heightened drama Osborne employs. It depicts five “suits” with smartphones in hand, anxiously peering through what looks to be an opaque chain-link fence. If not shot with a flash at night, one could see that this was a cordoned-off area of Lafayette Square adjacent to the equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson opposite the White House. Osborne is often preoccupied with what is purposefully made seen and unseen by the machinations of American politics.
