Perpignan Now #4

Day Three: 6p.m., Perpignan, France.
We have spent the day wandering the streets, seeing the many exhibitions, which take us temporarily out of Perpignan into other territories and cultures. Tomas van Houtryve's Behind the Curtains: Stories from the Last Communist Holdouts investigates the contradictions of Marxist ideology across the globe from Cuba to Moldova and from Laos to China...

But from these more exotic countries we turn to what can be a more familiar place, although often stranger than fiction, the USA with a photo story on the plight of the Californian redwoods by Michael Nichols. What’s staggering about this work is the one, immense composite photograph of a 300 ft redwood that’s over 1500 years old. After closer investigation we learn this work was shot for, and published by, our old friend, The National Geographic... Although physically walking across town to the Couvent Des Minimes, our minds and attention stay in the U.S. We see Stephanie Sinclaire's study of Polygamy in America, a body of work she has obviously spent a lot of time on, and also the access she has been given is astonishing considering the subject. In terms of looking "Behind the Curtain" this ripped the damn blinds down...

Next we are in the Bronx with a set of pictures by Antonio Bolfo. One can't help thinking of the T.V series "The Wire" when looking at Bolfo's photographs of young and discontented cops of the NYPD's Operation IMPACT. These officers are sent into the most dangerous and violent areas of New York, the Bronx, at the earliest stages of their careers, talk about Trial by Fire...
We have seen a lot today but it's too early to draw any conclusions. We also must remember what we saw and heard last night tells us that Perpignan is not just about the photographs, there is more... Something that brings people back…
There certainly is something that is alive here, but what it is we have yet to pin down, yet to fully understand...
It's familiar but let’s not forget we are on foreign ground...

But as mentioned already, it’s late, and there seems to be a place where our questions may be answered. The city is now dark and we are about to head into the heart of the town,.. One could almost call it The Heart of Darkness...The Cafe de la Poste...

To Be Continued…