On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam

Rating:
Summary: on the problem of emptiness
Review: Joel Sternfeld's work as a conceptual photographer exhibits a degree of understanding of emptiness, of unspoken gaps, of silence. He is taking the pictures of the places where famous tragic events in America were taking place, some years after the fact. The photographs are creating a very strong sense of the "negative event" space, where something which is not told is infinitely more important that what was told. Also I highly recommend Joel Sternfeld 's most recent exhibition catalog "Stranger Passing", where he travels the roads of America, and takes pictures with his large-format camera. Although all his pictures include people in various situations (attending a party, selling coffee, hanging out in their own homes, vacationing, promenading, relaxing, observing, working), what he is really interested in, is the depiction of landscapes and soft outplay of the mid-afternoon light.

Rating:
Summary: thought provoking images
Review: This collection explores many interesting issues both visual and conceptual. Sternfeld photographed the sites of many terrible events that happened on American soil (thus excluding the Lockerbie distaster). Some of the sites have become monuments such as the motel where King was assasinated. Most have not (such as the site of an auto accident which led to the formation of MADD or the lonely stretch of road where union organizer Karen Silkwood was murdered). In all, the site was photographed well after the event took place and, in a sense, the photographer takes a picture of the nothingness that history often leaves behind. This is an interesting problem since photography is bound to depict what is in the here and now...how can one photograph that which has already happened? What is startling about these images is their sheer banality. It shatters any illusion of security one might have. These places pictured are not in any way cursed. Life changing horrors can happen in any old mundane corner of the world.

Rating:
Summary: thought provoking images
Review: This collection explores many interesting issues both visual and conceptual. Sternfeld photographed the sites of many terrible events that happened on American soil (thus excluding the Lockerbie distaster). Some of the sites have become monuments such as the motel where King was assasinated. Most have not (such as the site of an auto accident which led to the formation of MADD or the lonely stretch of road where union organizer Karen Silkwood was murdered). In all, the site was photographed well after the event took place and, in a sense, the photographer takes a picture of the nothingness that history often leaves behind. This is an interesting problem since photography is bound to depict what is in the here and now...how can one photograph that which has already happened? What is startling about these images is their sheer banality. It shatters any illusion of security one might have. These places pictured are not in any way cursed. Life changing horrors can happen in any old mundane corner of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Words are not needed in this great photo essay in life of violence and tragedy in America. Ordinary places, amazing events. The corner where MADD's founded was killed by a drunk driver, Love Canal, Imperial Food Fire, the former Store where Emmett Tills whistled at a white woman and was brutally killed, Polly Klass, Magan Kanka, Yummy Sandifer, Waco, OK Fed Building. All memories that rose anew when I read the book. It sits on my desk at work as reminder that we should never forget these tragic events.