This blog is both a review of Cig Harvey's third collection from 2017 and a recommendation and introduction for her wider work.
Scanning the photographs in this book it may seem a strange and incoherent mishmash of pictures. From some super focussed pictures: a bird apparently being released by an open hand to the less focussed glove puppet dog eating leaves. From the picture of her daughter standing looking from the broken rear window of a Wagoneer to the seemingly jumbled trees which harbour a dark, slight figure, hardly seen. But it is a triumph of Picasso's words "It took me four years to paint a Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child." Here is the secret to the photographers art. The less obvious is as important. The small things have stature. Creating atmosphere is as important as giving clarity. Mystery is to be solved. The obvious may need to be better understood.
Here is a book of family, of affirmation and of life....and almost, death. It was produced after a serious collision that left the photographer badly injured, unable to speak and facing a long recovery.
Over the last four years or so Cig Harvey has become a muse and major influence in how I look at photography. I had come across Harvey before I saw this book, I had seen some pictures in a magazine and then followed her up on the internet where I found an illustrated interview with her on You Tube. A more recent interview is now online and is listed below.
A British photographer who has lived in the US for some years now (via Barcelona and Bermuda) she is thoughtful, imaginative, experimental and clearly has huge talent. Colour is important to her but she is skilled in using black and white to drive emotion. She clearly wants people to be provoked into thinking and looking beyond the picture that you see as her books affirm and her narrative style lays out the challenges both for photographers looking for inspiration and her viewers.
She has been awarded several prestigious awards in the USA and is represented by several large galleries, including Huxley Parlour in London.
Her books are Schilt Publishing and Gallery in Maine and are often limited editions which makes them very expensive. Her prints from the gallery well over £2000. This book is currently out of print. ( www.schiltpublishing.com )
I bought mine via ebay for a reasonable sum :-)
IMRC lecture series - Cig Harvey :- https://vimeo.com/362177565
Photographs from this book :- https://www.cigharvey.com/youanorchestrayouabomb
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