PAUL GRAHAM
American Night
September 20 - November 14, 2003
“A curious and most puzzling question might be started concerning this visual matter as concerning the Leviathan. But I must be content with a hint. So long as a man’s eyes are open in the light, the act of seeing is involuntary..”
— Melville, Moby Dick.
Paul Graham’s photographs touch upon the social fracture of America—the great divide—between included and excluded, blacks and whites, have and have-not. It is a simple topic, shunned these days or only dealt with in clichéd photo-journalism. American Night embraces this neglected territory in a series of shocking images that lodge firmly in our consciousness as they negotiate the boundaries of art and document.
At the heart of this work are extremely light photographs of the American landscape that evoke the feeling of stepping out of a sheltered place into bright sunlight, temporarily blinding the viewer with an overwhelming whiteness. Drained of color, shadow, and form, they resonate with the lives of those they portray walking, carrying, waiting, and wandering in the bleached landscape .. then this sequence snaps to a vibrant full-color image of a freshly minted “dream home” with blue sky, green grass, and a verdant palette that is perfect beyond attainment .. before returning to the glare of a brilliant emptiness.
The images are not just opposites in their paucity or wealth of colour, but also in their content: these perfect homes are unobtainable to those walking in the burnt landscape; they are a mirage, a dream that can almost never be reached. We have stumbled into the chasm between promise and actuality, the gulf between dreams and reality.
The photographs were made between 1998 and 2003 in many locations across America, including the Memphis Delta region, as well as Los Angeles, Detroit, NYC, and Atlanta. The works shown at Power House will be mostly Memphis based images. In addition, a 138-page book of the work American Night has been published to coincide with this exhibition, and will be available at Power House.
The title, American Night, refers to a technique in film making where night footage is shot in daylight. In 1973 François Truffaut made La Nuit Americaine, which in English was titled Day for Night.
Paul Graham was born in England and currently lives in New York. He is considered to be one of our leading contemporary photographers and his work has been exhibited extensively, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and at the Tate Gallery, London. His work was also featured in the Delta Axis / nvisible Museum collaboration Ghosts show in Memphis during fall 2000. Previously published books include Troubled Land, New Europe, Empty Heaven, and End of an Age.