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A landmark project created at the height of the “troubles,” *Troubled Land* explores the small but persistent signs of political division embedded in the landscape of Northern Ireland. At the heart of the Irish conflict lies the land—who owns it, who controls it, and whose history it embodies. Paul Graham’s quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind by uniquely combining landscape and conflict photography, captivating us with bucolic views in which revealing details emerge only gradually: painted curbs, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, roads splattered with paint, each tacitly aligning this place with its republican or loyalist allegiance. The pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows reveal themselves to be images of conflict and strife—despite the stability of the photographic frame and the clarity of Graham’s vision, this is an unstable land. Originally published in 1986, Troubled Land is reissued here for the first time in thirty-five years. Controversial at the time for its use of color and its refusal to follow the clichés of photojournalism, the book played a vital role in bringing a new perspective to the “troubles” of Northern Ireland and left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it can engage with politics and society rather than escape from them.
Published by Mackbooks, 2022
32.2 x 24.3 cm
80 pages
ISBN
A landmark project created at the height of the “troubles,” *Troubled Land* explores the small but persistent signs of political division embedded in the landscape of Northern Ireland. At the heart of the Irish conflict lies the land—who owns it, who controls it, and whose history it embodies. Paul Graham’s quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind by uniquely combining landscape and conflict photography, captivating us with bucolic views in which revealing details emerge only gradually: painted curbs, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, roads splattered with paint, each tacitly aligning this place with its republican or loyalist allegiance. The pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows reveal themselves to be images of conflict and strife—despite the stability of the photographic frame and the clarity of Graham’s vision, this is an unstable land. Originally published in 1986, Troubled Land is reissued here for the first time in thirty-five years. Controversial at the time for its use of color and its refusal to follow the clichés of photojournalism, the book played a vital role in bringing a new perspective to the “troubles” of Northern Ireland and left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it can engage with politics and society rather than escape from them.
Published by Mackbooks, 2022
32.2 x 24.3 cm
80 pages
ISBN
