I’ve spent time with The Open Road (see post 9th December 2014), reading Campany’s introduction to each photographer and studying the images. Coming from different eras, different worlds, they reflect the motifs and concerns of their time. Their views of the world shift from the angry/melancholic, through the perplexed/fascinated/surreal to the ragged/uncertain. Alternatively the work may be seen as analytical v critical, curious v distanced, literal v symbolic. They all attempt to conjure some order out of chaos; yet, while they show, they cannot explain.
Most employ a more or less straightforward engagement with the observable world and eschew purely pictorial achievement. The everyday – events, objects, places – is valued as subject matter; and complex pleasure is taken in things and appearances. Despite the shifts in photographic intent, there is a continuity of underlying values in a changing world.
No neat formula for how I may structure my book emerges – and anyway, I’m not dealing with a road trip. It has to come from my experience and how I want the images to be seen.
Photo: Boyne, France, August 1989
Photo: Near Domme, France, August 1987