
picture: Colin Pantall
More new work from the Flora series:
Isabel picking Cosmos from Desanka's allotment
1. Sofa Portraits is now available for pre-order from my website (orders will deliver in October/November) The pric...
Ridderkerk II, 2003
© Raimond Wouda
Dear Friends,
During the first “call for entries” period for Lay Flat, a number of photographers expressed that were very pleased that there was no entry fee involved. I am too! From the beginning, it was important to me that photographers were able to submit their work to be considered free of charge. Because of this, however, I have to ask for your help now. At this point, Lay Flat is just shy of the funds necessary to print and distribute the first issue but, with a little support from all of you, we can easily cover these costs!
If you’re a photographer who has submitted or simply a lover of photography, I urge you to take this moment to consider donating to Lay Flat. As a donor, you can know that you are supporting an exciting new publication that celebrates photography in a way that is unique from other publications. There is no minimum amount accepted - every penny counts! - but donors that give more than $20 will be thanked in print and will receive an advanced e-mail regarding the release of the publication.
To donate, just head to the website and find the “donate” button.
It has been a long wait, but things are finally coming together with the help of all of you. Thank you so much!
All best,
Shane
"Back then, the most vivid description of their conditions came from Cardinal O'Fiaich, the then-Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland, who visited the prison in 1978. 'I was shocked by the inhuman conditions prevailing in H Blocks 3, 4 and 5, where over 300 prisoners are incarcerated,' he said. 'One would hardly allow an animal to remain in such conditions let alone a human being.' O'Fiaich compared the H Blocks to 'the slums of Calcutta', adding: 'The stench and filth in some of the cells, with the remains of rotten food and human excreta around the walls, was almost unbearable. In two of them I was unable to speak for fear of vomiting.'
His public statement prompted a response from the Northern Ireland Office, which began: 'These criminals are totally responsible for the situation in which they find themselves. It is they who have been smearing excreta on the walls and pouring urine through the cell doors. It is they who by their actions are denying themselves the excellent modern facilities of the prison.'
The conflicting tone and message of those two statements, the one emotive and outraged, the other detached and clinical, prefigured the coming battle of wills between Republicans and the British state. In the eyes of the British government, led by Margaret Thatcher, the prisoners were simply murderers and gangsters and were to be treated accordingly. To the Nationalist population of Northern Ireland, who were becoming increasingly agitated about conditions inside the H Blocks, they were political prisoners standing up for a defining principle of Republicanism."THANKSGIVING PRAYER
William Burroughs
Click here to hear the Burroughs' reading
Thanks for the wild turkey and
the passenger pigeons, destined
to be shat out through wholesome
American guts.
Thanks for a continent to despoil
and poison.
Thanks for Indians to provide a
modicum of challenge and
danger.
Thanks for vast herds of bison to
kill and skin leaving the
carcasses to rot.
Thanks for bounties on wolves
and coyotes.