Joshua, Angola State Prison, Louisiana 2002
(source: http://www.alecsoth.com/Mississippi-new/pages/frameset.html)
Born 1969, Minneapolis, Minnesota
In searching for new ways to authentically create works of photography Alec Soth employs a method of storytelling that may be next direction in photography. It was absolutely inspiring for me to see the embrace of such adventurous methods and the obvious joy taken by Soth in pursuit of his art. Focusing heavily on the expansion of William Eggleston's concept of the Democratic Forest (the idea that all subjects may be photographed and considered with equal weight) into that of the Democratic Jungle, Soth seeks to find a meaningful way to approach photography in the current image saturated environment. While his past work is connected with loose themes that developed over the course of many and repeated road trips, his more recent works focus on bringing together the art of storytelling and the art of photography. Series like "the most beautiful woman in georgia" or "the loneliest man in Missouri" take a on the literary tone of great road novels placing him in often strange situations while in search of his subjects. Soth's approach to the process of photography is one i might very well explore and if not in active practice his views and comments on the purpose of photography and documentation will stay with me for a long time.
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