Perpignan Now #2

Day Two: Monday 31 August 2010, London, Stansted:
"Today we leave... We board a Boeing 737 chartered by Ryanair, the last time I flew with that outfit I swore I never would again, yet here I am.....
Waiting at the airport and watching all the people returning home as I prepare to leave gives me time to think.....:
There is a character in a novel by David Mitchell who runs a film shop and he muses that the quality of any movie in directionally in-proportional to the number of helicopters in that movie… So gets me thinking of how this could relate to photographs.....
But they just called the flight, so for now, that will just have to wait….."
To be continued..

Perpignan Now

Day One: Thursday 26th August 2010, London:

"As I lie here listening to the rain, I think back to the past 10 years... To the last time I was there.. ..

The heat, those hot sweet nights, the crowded bars, and dark lonely alleys.... and then the images, images everywhere, in convents and on buildings..

I never thought I would return.... But I saw it there, alive, definitely alive...

But then I hear a rumour going around. Whispers, and murmurs, spoken out there on the web, that its died, yes,it's is truly dead…. Dead….

So I realize as I lie here, that I have to return. To go south once again... To see for myself if its true and it really is dead, maybe it’s just in hiding, retired or simply in disguise.

I cant believe its dead, I know that in my bones....

So I know I have to return, to head back again..

South......

To Perpignan"

To be continued...
(Disclaimer: If you have not seen the film Apocalypse Now, or not seen it recently, then the following diary will probably make me sound like a bit of a fool, on the other hand if you have not seen, or not seen recently the film Apocalypse Now I cant recommend it enough..)

Zuzana Salajkova

Zuzana now has a new website with more images to be added soon......
I'm a fan of just how subtle she can be...
Well worth a look here...."After more than seven years living in a different country I started to question myself about where my real home is. Each time I go back to see my homeland I start to feel more and more like a stranger...."
Zuzana Salajkova

Bad Backs and Death....

Firstly I need to apologize for not posting of late, and I'm not going to moan but its because I have had real bad back problems...... But as the saying goes " It could always be worse!" and damn right it could be!..
Which brings me onto a new book by Canadian Photographer Jack Burman's new book " The Dead" and yep as you can see my back problems pale in significance to some of the subjects of this fine book..."The Dead" published by the amazing Canadian Magenta Foundation, is basically a study of long deceased but painstakingly preserved bodies, or bits of bodies.....
Its well worth a look and the special edition comes in a beautiful wooden box ( coffin!)...
Its available from Magenta here....
and there is a good article here....

It's been a blast I must say ... Jason Royce

Now here is a story from Jason Royce, I saw this work at one of our carousel evenings, I wont say much as I think Jason says it just fine:

"These colour photos are from a series shot on Fuji Velvia & black & white film back in 1994.

they depict the Environmentalist Non Violent Direct Action scene that burst into existance just a coulple of years earlier. I had just finished A one year photography course at the St. James The Less School In Pimlico. And someone I met In the Samuel Peyps pub in Hackney suggested I get my arse down there.
Well That was It - The first time I saw that street I was Hooked. I decided straight away that I was going to photograph the Undergound Environmental Movement properly . That Is to say becoming an Activist as well as a Photographer & ignoring the press .

So after a couple of visits of photographing the street & 1 day pulling nails out of bits of wood. I was prepared for the Final Eviction of Claremount Rd . I was on the roofs & In a cargo Net strung between treehouses & the victorian terraced houses before I knew It . And It was the best day of my life. I was published In the Crusty press & that was it - I met the Underground.Where I was asked ' What I wanted to do next " ? And my reply was photograph the tree camps " Fairmile & Trollheilm " In Devon .

That was It - next come Reclaim The Streets - The 1st proper big one was In Camden Town In the Early 90's - And no one has seen those pictures ( apart from the Police who raided me about 5 years ago ) false allegations were made against me - relating to another Photographer. My first proper audience who sitting on my bed going through my photo's exclaimed " This Is Another World " . Oh And there was A section back In 1999 the Underground scene got pretty hectic with the squat scene back in the day - there was a lot of drugs & lot of Pisstakers In the end. And a lot of pressure was put upon me to publish. Everyone saying " When are you going to Do Something with your Photo's " at the same time not really offering any help or advice.
So after being " Jacked Up " & then released from the Funny Farm I went travelling around the world - my thinking being " If I'm going to be miserable anywhere it might as well be abroad. So I went travelling ( without a proffesional camera ) to many different countries & got into all sorts of scrapes & adventures , but that's another story.

So returning home After my 3rd trip abroad I put an Exhibition on at the " Foundry " entitled " Demand The Impossible " & printed up 1000 flyers and leafleted various places ( lot's of pubs in the East End , The Guardian Newspaper & areas in Hackney where I knew A lot of the Underground would be - very low key .

The Exhibition was a wild success and I got a rave review in Focus - Fine Art Magazine by Bill Troop & The rest they say is history as they say. Well apart from me continuing " Shooting " & Training both at Climate Camp & over In Eire' more recently.
It's been a blast I must say .
And I must give A Big Shout Out to Alll those selfless Eco Warriors & Worriers out there. With paticular attention to those whove passed on . Namely Dolly The 93 year old " Protester who was born in Claremont Rd " And to whom there was a 100 foot scaffold tower erected in her honour - That was 1 Hell Of A Climbing Frame .

And of course I must not forget The Police & MI5 / MI6 who have been monitering us for years and lastly of course - The Press & All those Paps.
Tou You I can only say Feck You .

Thankyou everone else ...."
Jason Royce

Joachim Schmid / Ed Ruscha / Joachim Schmid

OK so this is not the most recent title, but I only became aware of it when Joachim Schmid showed the book at the photobook publishing seminar we held at the gallery last weekend. Its in part a homage to Ed Ruscha..
Its titled:
Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming Pools, A Few Palm Trees, No Small Fires
Being a big fan of the books of both Ed Ruscha and Joachim, it was good to see....

And here is what Joachim has to say about it:
Between 1963 and 1972, Edward Ruscha published fifteen artist's books, his first being "Twentysix Gasoline Stations"; a book which is considered to be the first modern artist's book, and has become the iconic precursor and a major influence on the emerging international artists' books culture.
"Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, Thirtyfour Parking Lots, Nine Swimming Pools, A Few Palm Trees, No Small Fires" is a modern remake of some of Ruscha's famous books, all grouped in one volume. Unlike the original books it relates to, this work was made entirely at my Berlin studio. I didn't visit Los Angeles to make the book and I didn't use a camera either. The camera is out there.

The picture above is of one of Rucsha's originals, and will set you back quite a bit, but thankfully as with many of Joachim's books its available through Blurb on demand here...

Reality World cup

Marking the end of the Wordlcup, I thought I would mention Alan Powdrill's show that's on at the Printspace, London until the 20th July....
Powddrill photographed over three seasons in the Sunday Leagues across seven UK cities, this is a humanistic focus on the unsung heroes and dreamers who week-in week-out live out Match of the Day fantasies for nothing but love.

Teabaggers' Ball

Here is some work by Dennis Yermoshin, who lives and works in Houston Texas.
Dennis was born in Baku, but his family came to the US as refugees in 1991. He has done some fantastic work on his family in America, which was featured on Foto8 some time ago, see more of it on Dennis' site here.
But the work shown here is from the new series Teabaggers' Ball
"In preparation for the 2010 November elections, Tea Party members from eight surrounding Houston, Texas counties, gathered at Discovery Green Park in Houston on America’s Tax Day – Thursday, April 15th as a conservative whole, uniting in liberal perspective to share and promote their ideas of progressive reform as well as their undeniable opposition to the Obama administration and their policies."
"The evening was filled with speeches given by Tea Party leaders from each of the participating counties as well as some other members. Proclaiming a need for a “change” in American health care and their desire for bigger tax cuts while strongly criticizing President Obama's efforts, the “Teabaggers” also supported local candidates for upcoming state elections. Each Tea Party had tables and booths set up in a smaller field near the entrance for promotional purposes, distributing handouts about themselves, collecting emails, and selling various political merchandise - t-shirts, buttons, etc."
"The diversity in age groups ranged from toddlers to elders, all united under one wing in their devotion to political activism and their patriotism for America."
Dennis Yermoshin

Qi Lihe and a Sin City

Here is some work by British photographer Stephen Kelly, currently working in China, the first images below are from his series Qi Lihe:The series explores the district of Qi Lihe, which sits on the outskirts of Lanzhou city in Gansu Province, north western China.
It is home to thousands of Muslim migrant families who have left their homeland within the Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture and arrived into the city searching for job opportunities and ultimately, a better life. For hundreds of years the Hui and Dongxiang Muslim minorities have farmed the arid land surrounding their ancestral villages.
In recent years though, desertification has forced this once workable landscape to begin a dramatic change, impelling many modern day farmers and their families to migrate to the provincial capital in order to survive.

The photographs below are from Stephens Sin City:
The Sin City series documents life in China’s self-styled ‘city of dreams’. Situated on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, this semi-autonomous region of China is the sole territory within the People’s Republic that permits gambling.
In 2009, Macau’s thirty two casinos are reported to have made US $14.875 billion in gambling revenue, doubling that of Las Vegas.

See more of Stephens work here...

Between Make Up Your MInd and Making No Sense..

Recently I was a judge for the Rhubarb Rhubarb " Hungry" bursary, which was an interesting day, the judges and I were lucky enough to see a lot of good work, and excitingly the majority of the really interesting photography was by the photographers who were either students or very recent graduates.....
Anyway, two things struck me quite early on in the day, and these were:

1)Some of the photographer’s statements were SO bad! And (to me) made little or no sense whatsoever, completely whimsical and solely about themselves!... For example there was a very interesting set of pictures of strange man-made structures, photographed at night in a stylised way. It was obvious these strange buildings were inhabited, and I for one wanted to know more, so we were given the photographer’s statement, which we read, and it went on about how his or her work was really dealing with concepts of the spaces between dreams and reality and so on, and not once did it mention what these structures were, or where they were! So in a sense the work became futile! There was too much "I" this and "My work" that.... Sometimes I just want to know what I am looking at, surely that’s not too much to ask?

2) It is probably a huge exaggeration but it seemed the majority the titles of the bodies of work I saw had the word “between" in them. Things like "Between Dreams and Daylight", " Between Waking and Darkness", "Between reality and illusion" and so on..... Is this a linguistic game? Am I to work out that ”Between Dreams and Daylight” could be called "Nightime"? The other "Daytime"? And the third, God knows what?
What I’m getting at is that sometimes I wish photographers would just say what they mean.

So this got me thinking about how many titles of photo books have the word “between” in them, a quick advanced search on Amazon brings up 3,762! Some of which are:

Between Art and Revolution: Tina Modotti
In Between: Guy Bourdin
China Between by Polly Braden
Between the Eyes
Some Points in Between... Up Till Now: Robert Polidori
Between Sky and Earth
Between Dogs and Wolves: Growing Up with South Africa by Jodi Bieber
IRAQ: The Space Between by Christoph Bangert
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China
Between the Dark and Light by Jay Blakesberg
Between the Two by Todd Hido
Between Sea and Sky by R.S. Thomas and Peter Hope Jones
Between Dreams and Reality: Tracey Moffatt
The Space Between: Michal Rovner
Between Past and Future: New German Photography
Between Worlds: Contemporary Mexican Photography
Water: Worlds Between Heaven and Earth by Art Wolfe
Tibet: The Roof of the World Between Past and Present by Maria Antonia Sironi Diemberger
Between Visible by Tomoko Yoneda
The Space Between: Gordon Matta-Clark
Between Dog and Wolf by Nick Haymes
Between Dark and Dark by Thomas Joshua Cooper
Between Dog and Wolf: Chrystel Lebas

Obviously of those 3, 762 books I found with 'Between' in the title, I grant many should have a clear right to use the word, a good example being:
Different Strokes: The Difference Between Cats & Dogs by Gandee Vasan
I haven’t actually got that book so I cant vouch for its titles validity, but I assume it does exactly what it says it does, and currently at £3.61 for a used copy, it may actually be worth a look….

There you go, Thursday morning rant over.....

Alexander James's Taxis

I have always liked Fashion Photographer Alexander James' Taxi Series' and just found an interview with him here on the Sketchbook Blog....

FotoFest: Cori Chandler-Pepelnjak

Another person whose work i saw in Houston was Cori Chandler-Pepelnjak, she showed me her work Jo Jo, Cori started the work whilst on one of photographer David Alan Harvey's workshops in the US... :
"The more I watched this girl, the more confused and intrigued I became. I wasn’t sure of her age—she could have been 15 or she could have been 20 something. I approached her and explained my intentions and asked if it were ok if I photographed her for awhile she hung out there with her skater friends. I left Union square that night without getting any information besides her name..."
"..For two nights following that initial meeting I returned to the same spot hoping to find her or her friends hanging out. I was in luck, and this guy who is now her boyfriend called her up and handed me the cell phone so I could talk to her. I explained that I would love to spend a few more days photographing her in her everyday life, she nonchalantly agreed and so I planned to meet her outside her school the next day and would walk home with her so I could meet her mother, which I insisted on...."
"...Just as we arrived at the stoop of her building, before she picked up her bike to carry it up the stairs into the Chinese-red hallway that led to the apartment stairwell, JoJo told me her mom was hosting a party. With a disgusted expression she said, “my mom is a cougar, you know what that is right?” Caught a bit of guard I followed JoJo through the red hallway, up the dingy blue stairwell, and into the apartment and straight to JoJo’s bedroom which was dominated by a hot pink hairy blanket on her bed and three frenzied miniature greyhound dogs..."
"...Wondering which of the women buzzing around was JoJo’s mom, she said, “oh, that was my mom”, about the striking woman that just popped her head in. No one asked who I was or what I was doing, my being there was nothing out of the ordinary. I did tell JoJo I wanted to introduce myself, so I did and was immediately absorbed by all the hubub and various characters that were coming and going. That was a year and a half ago. JoJo is now 16 and I am still photographing her life...." Cori Chandler-Pepelnjak

FotoFest: Greta Pratt

Some of my favorite work was that by Greta Pratt, it seems that for some years now Greta has been looking at American identity through both its history and its icons, and their affect both visually and metaphorically now on the American people here is some work form the Lincoln series..:
"These men all belong to The Association of Lincoln Presenters. They are passionate about Abraham Lincoln and spend time studying, reading, and performing for school groups, community celebrations, and senior citizen centers...
"..I asked the men to write about why they dress and act as Lincoln. Although they began this obsession for various reasons their motives for continuing it are similar. Repeatedly, they refer to Lincoln’s moral character and the work ethic that enabled him to rise from humble beginnings to the presidency. They revere Lincoln because he embodies one of America’s most cherished tenets, that the common man, through sheer hard work and determination, can elevate his status in society. .."
"These photographs are a continuation of my quest to understand how I, and we, remember history. My intention is to comment on the way a society, composed of individuals, is held together through the creation of its history and heroic figures..." Greta Pratt

FotoFest: Laura Noel

Laura Noel has been working on a body of work called Deliver Me, portraits of smokers, I thought many of these portraits have a loneliness to them that is incredibly touching..
Laura says of the work:
"Smokers have become social refugees banished to windy corners, cars, and private rooms. I am interested in the idea that society has become so disenchanted with this habit that we have tried to legislate smokers out of existence. "

To me though the smoking just acts as continuity to a subtle yet beautiful body that acts in part as a small survey of the US State of Georgia, where all the pictures were taken....

FotoFest: Monika Merva

Since 2002 Monika Merva has been documenting the lives of children who are living in a government-run housing facility for severally disabled and at-risk teens in Fot, Hungary.
The official name is the Karloyi Istvan Gyermekkozpont. They call this place “The City of Children.”
In her own words:
"My focus on Gyermekkozpont comes from understanding that one's sense of self comes with a sense of belonging within a community.
I believe the home is where our strength lies. It's the source of everything, where all our, fears, questions, love and our need to belong originate."