TROUBLED LAND - Paul Graham
An emblematic project produced at the height of the Troubles, Troubled Land deals with the small but insistent signs of political division in the Northern Irish landscape. At the heart of the Irish conflict is the land - who owns it, who controls it, whose history it expresses. Paul Graham's quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind with its unique combination of landscape and conflict photography, seducing us with bucolic views in which telling details only gradually emerge: painted borders, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, paint-splattered roads, each tacitly aligning this place with its Republican or Loyalist allegiance. Pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows turn out 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 refusal to follow the clichés of photojournalism, the book played a vital role in bringing a fresh perspective to the "troubles" in Northern Ireland and has left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it can engage with politics and society rather than escape from it.
Published by Mackbooks, 2022
32.2 x 24.3 cm
80 pages
ISBN 978-1-913620-60-8
An emblematic project produced at the height of the Troubles, Troubled Land deals with the small but insistent signs of political division in the Northern Irish landscape. At the heart of the Irish conflict is the land - who owns it, who controls it, whose history it expresses. Paul Graham's quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind with its unique combination of landscape and conflict photography, seducing us with bucolic views in which telling details only gradually emerge: painted borders, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, paint-splattered roads, each tacitly aligning this place with its Republican or Loyalist allegiance. Pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows turn out 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 refusal to follow the clichés of photojournalism, the book played a vital role in bringing a fresh perspective to the "troubles" in Northern Ireland and has left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it can engage with politics and society rather than escape from it.
Published by Mackbooks, 2022
32.2 x 24.3 cm
80 pages
ISBN 978-1-913620-60-8
An emblematic project produced at the height of the Troubles, Troubled Land deals with the small but insistent signs of political division in the Northern Irish landscape. At the heart of the Irish conflict is the land - who owns it, who controls it, whose history it expresses. Paul Graham's quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind with its unique combination of landscape and conflict photography, seducing us with bucolic views in which telling details only gradually emerge: painted borders, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, paint-splattered roads, each tacitly aligning this place with its Republican or Loyalist allegiance. Pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows turn out 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 refusal to follow the clichés of photojournalism, the book played a vital role in bringing a fresh perspective to the "troubles" in Northern Ireland and has left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it can engage with politics and society rather than escape from it.
Published by Mackbooks, 2022
32.2 x 24.3 cm
80 pages
ISBN 978-1-913620-60-8
