Beyond honored to have Trying to Find the Ocean featured in this fantastic space . . . photobook exhibition in Reggio Emilia as part of Fotografia Europea 2016. If you find yourself in northern Italy, in and around Milan, definitely visit the citywide photography celebration. All exhibits are up through July 10th.
Fotografia Europea 2016, Photobook Exhibition, Reggio Emilia, Italy (photo © Fotografia Europea, 2016)
My new photobook a musing from the rocking dock is officially in the hands of the printer in Spain, soon to be proofed. I feel free, and just a wee bit anxious. Enormous gratitude to Fábio Miguel Roque and The Unknown Books for inviting me to publish the work. I’m excited to share it with folks. Updates to follow in coming weeks.
One of the greatest honors that I have ever received is the respect and insight that artist and writer Mark Alice Durant shared in his afterword essay in my first photobook. I learned things about my particular use of the camera and my psychology with photography that I had never thought about. Mark offers that up with each artist and the art he writes about. Donating to the publication of his book here, and his Saint Lucy Books imprint, goes without the slightest hesitation. His essays and interviews alone, found on his plentiful arts-based website “Saint Lucy”, is a testament to his skilled examination, let alone the numerous writings he’s penned for the industry’s most aesthetically provoking magazines and monographs. The education he brings forth is something that few writers can offer, in a language and style that is convincing, tangible and inspiring. Get ready for good things to come with Mark at the helm. If you aren’t already familiar with his writings, be sure to visit SAINT LUCY. I’m certain you’ll find the experience stimulating and consider donating to this promise of a brilliant publishing endeavor.
See Mark’s Kickstart project -> Mark Alice Durant, 27 Contexts, Saint Lucy Books
© Mark Alice Durant, 2016
Very pleased receiving invitation to feature my first book “Trying to Find the Ocean” at the upcoming photobook exhibition, included in the citywide Fotografia Europia celebration in Reggio Emilia, Italy, May 6-8. The exhibition will be up along with all the many others through July 10, 2016. This year’s theme is Roads, Journeys, Borders.
Information on all exhibits can be found at the festival’s site FOTOGRAFIA EUROPEA
photo from previous photobook exhibition, Fotografia Europea © F.E., 2015
Always been a big fan of John O’toole’s “Oranbeg Press” endeavors and publications. Was happy being invited to design an interleaf for his extensive Interleaves project, and be among the mix of so many photographers I admire. The project is soon to wrap up, having featured 150 artists.
Interleaves can be found / purchased here at Oranbeg
Interleaf (front), Michael Ast for Oranbeg Press
Interleaf (back), Michael Ast for Oranbeg Press
Bucks County (silver gelatin prints)
Feels good to return to old work . . . been looking back at photographs and prints I made from @ 1998 – 2006 in my maternal home of Bucks County. I might begin to pick up where I left off, documenting the changing landscape from a rural one to a nonsensical, suburban one. If there was one positive thing to come out of the recession, it was the local pause in the housing boom, poor residential design and the greed of developers.
Here’s what I like about the first warm week of nights in the new year. I like the long drag of the trash can crescendoing down the driveway to its overnight resting place. The periphery of neighborhood sounds directly after. The tire hiss off a ways descending down to Limeport. The plane lights blinking, yellow white, red, way up above, its engine hum far behind the flicker. The stars. Orion. The spotlight on the dry dead grass. Bleached beige. The quiet billowing behind twilight. The silhouette of our cat coming from across the street. The dead wind. The dying down of humanity after their meaningless day working for what? The acute ear has its way of leveling pertinence for a tiny glimpse of perfection. How silly that’s all some have come to need before next day’s dawn. Others, not even that. I sit on the sidewalk beside the trash, smiling. Bowing. Drinking a beer.
(3.9.16)
Winter fatigue in the northeast led me to California earlier in the month . . . A sum of some parts.
