The land, the land, the land? What are we going to do with
the land? Especially when it is going to be dug up, have all the life ripped
out of it and be turned into a shopping mall. Because, much as I loved the
Olympics with its Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis and Bradley Wiggins, the Olympic
site is just a big mall that mystifies sport, removes land from true recreation
and will in no way whatsoever encourage or develop sporting activity in this
country in any way, shape or form. Making all swimming pools free would do
that. Building tennis courts, cycle tracks, parks and not building houses on
sold-off school playing fields might help people get out more.
So I loved the Olympics, but really let’s get back to
reality. Stuff the Olympics. And whilst we’re at it stuff the
World Cup and the Winter Olympics too. Let pockets be lined in some other way.
Where does that take us? To Stephen Gill. Stephen
Gill is clever and as with Mishka Henner, he is adept at the one-liner; toy
cameras, buried prints, flowery collages, decayed negatives, detritus in the
camera, all underpinned by a homespun publishing house that came before
homespun publishing houses were ten a penny.
However, it’s the theme of the land, in particular Hackney
Wick and the Lea Valley, the area that was destroyed when London’s Olympic Park
was built, that puts Gill into this week’s list. His practice is connected to
the land, to marginal landscape that directly links to the people, the land use, found photographs, the
visual history of Hackney and the foliage of the land. And it virtually unique given its focus on in-between places in being full of energy and life. It's rich stuff in other words. My favourite Gill book
is obvious - Hackney
Flowers; it’s warm, witty, charming and gritty. There are seeds, there are
flowers and everything’s pretty.
As you can see from the pictures below.
1 comment:
If you get a chance to look at this one: http://nobodybooks.com/shop/products-page/book/44-photographs-trinidad/ (there are some copies in the photographers gallery). Hasn't had much hype but is very cleverly (or fortuitously) put together. Has a message on the back of each print and all fits together perfectly.
Post a comment