NT / Reading / Research
For my final MA work one of the driving forces was the New Topographics show of 1975, a strange far-reaching show that gathered momentum as a photographic landmark movement well after the fact. One that is mentioned, talked about, discussed in almost every contemporary photographic book. There is one specific publication that seemed pivotal publication that seemed to link it all together called “New Topographics” this that was published by Steidli and coincided with the exhibition restaging in 2009/2010.
This seemed to be the definitive work that would lead me onto a path, it was mentioned in nearly every bit of research that I’d read up to that point so I’d had glimpses and selected quotes from it, it looked like it would be the text that would pull my whole project together..
Could i get a copy, could i…well lots of second hand books shops seemed to suggest they had it but couldn’t get it to me that soon or it was £££££, there was one on Amazon for £185 but well it’s Amazon, the British Library could possibly send the text to me but covid delays so I was running out of options as usual the deadline was looming…..how vital could this text be? So with Covid 19, time frame and availability of, mainly lead to me quoting from the articles that had quoted it rather a direct reading of the text..
Let us fast forward to now with the loosening of the lockdown I managed to eventually get my hands upon it and disappointingly it’s everything I hoped for and thought it would be, it’s got thoughts, references to further study, processes, pointers all over the place. Illustrating the bigger picture with references to Sekula, Friedlander and questions of style and aesthetics
Great.
Anyways I’ve managed to read it in fits and starts, this is mainly due to time frames of other work and the change of headspace that gives you is making it difficult to process plus I’m partly kicking myself that the project could have gone this way or that way because of what I’ve read in the texts...
You sort of think that at this level of study should i have done more……Horse. Door. Stable. Bolt.
With some readings I did sometimes wondered what i should be getting out of certain texts but with this one I realise that it pieced together the whole movement within a critical and creative framework.
Raises a question of how as a photographer do texts influence you? Do they influence the images that you make?
Thinking on this though maybe it’s the freedom of not having a deadline, maybe it’s the exploration of the subject matter that has given me more freedom or maybe it’s just the benefits of time anyway I feel that I could have done better had I git this text but that could maybe just the benefit of hindsight.
It is what it is.
I’ll leave you with the opening of the conclusion which I think sums it up nicely
“When, how and why did New Topographics – not some other exhibition, group or approach – come to be seen as marking a turning point or even a paradigm shift for photography? This outcome is all the more surprising given the fact that no single proselytizer took up the legacy of New Topographics.
Why indeed?
Thank you for reading
Published date 01-10-20