http://www.bryanschutmaat.com/
Grays the Mountain Sends
"This project combines portraits, landscapes, and still lifes in a series of photos that explores the lives of working people residing in small mountain towns and mining communities in the American West. Equipped with a large format view camera, and inspired by the poetry of Richard Hugo, I’ve aimed to hint at narratives and relay the experiences of strangers met in settings that spur my own emotions. Ultimately, this body of work is a meditation on small town life, the landscape, and more importantly, the inner landscapes of common men."
The principal supporting business now
is rage. Hatred of the various grays
the mountain sends, hatred of the mill,
The Silver Bell repeal, the best liked girls
who leave each year for Butte. One good
restaurant and bars can’t wipe the boredom out.
The 1907 boom, eight going silver mines,
a dance floor built on springs —
all memory resolves itself in gaze,
in panoramic green you know the cattle eat
or two stacks high above the town,
two dead kilns, the huge mill in collapse
for fifty years that won’t fall finally down.
is rage. Hatred of the various grays
the mountain sends, hatred of the mill,
The Silver Bell repeal, the best liked girls
who leave each year for Butte. One good
restaurant and bars can’t wipe the boredom out.
The 1907 boom, eight going silver mines,
a dance floor built on springs —
all memory resolves itself in gaze,
in panoramic green you know the cattle eat
or two stacks high above the town,
two dead kilns, the huge mill in collapse
for fifty years that won’t fall finally down.
Isn’t this your life? That ancient kiss
still burning out your eyes? Isn’t this defeat
so accurate, the church bell simply seems
a pure announcement: ring and no one comes?
Don’t empty houses ring? Are magnesium
and scorn sufficient to support a town,
not just Philipsburg, but towns
of towering blondes, good jazz and booze
the world will never let you have
until the town you came from dies inside?
still burning out your eyes? Isn’t this defeat
so accurate, the church bell simply seems
a pure announcement: ring and no one comes?
Don’t empty houses ring? Are magnesium
and scorn sufficient to support a town,
not just Philipsburg, but towns
of towering blondes, good jazz and booze
the world will never let you have
until the town you came from dies inside?
— Richard Hugo “Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg” in Making Certain It Goes On
The sequence starts with the image of the mine, or rather the remnants of one carved into slopes, where mining no longer remains. The scene is lit by the half-cast light of early morning, soft shadows cast over a calm yet disturbing palette. The colours are beautiful, yet we can still see the mountain is massacred, its insides forced out by explosive extraction. But now is stands quiet and empty, indifferent through the procession of time.
All this stands as a metaphor for the growth of America. It speaks volumes for the adventurous construction and destruction that built America's foundation, and through this collection we see the relationship of these things - from depletion, exhaustion, power, hope.
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Who/what/when/where?
Bryan Schutmaat, an American photographer (b. 1983) from Houston, where he later completed a BA in history at the University of Houston and also completed an MFA in photography at the Hartford Art School, Connecticut.
His series Grays the Mountain Sends was first exhibited at Houston Centre for Photography, June 2011, but came surface more well known in 2013 exhibiting in New York at the Aperture Foundation after winning the Aperture Portfolio Prize of 2013. The series in a combination of portraits, landscapes and still life photographs, exploring the working lives of those inhabiting small towns around mountain and mining communities, in West America.
Concept - connected ideas, references, narrative, personal?
Inspired by the poetry of Richard Hugo, he aimed to portray some narrative of experiences, be it of the strangers he met or the landscape that was shaped by these strangers of the small towns he visited. Ultimately meditating on small town life, the landscape, but more importantly to him the "inner landscapes of common men". The experiences of these men who have worked in these towns, built them, the hardship and the lifestyle they've lead is sombrely carved into their faces. Sombre/stoic. But also portrayed are a few younger people, who perhaps are looking for a way out this life they live in.
Structure - line, shape, form, texture, colour, balance, unity, emphasis, rhythm
The images are lit naturally, so the light is soft and the colour palettes natural. Expression is sombre and face muscles are relaxed to expose the nature of their lifestyle and how it has physically affected them, besides mentally. With a number of the portraits, the mens gazes drift just off centre, perhaps looking at the photographer, yet we get the feeling that these gazes are more so linked with the affects of their lifestyle.
Meaning - point of view, message, metaphor, symbolism
All this stands as a metaphor for the growth of America. It speaks volumes for the adventurous construction and destruction that built America's foundation, and through this collection we see the relationship of these things - from depletion, exhaustion, power, hope. The images equally evoke the devastation to the land and the devastated faces of those who have lived in it, built it.
Historical/Theoretical context - compare to historical or contemporary practitioners.
http://www.aaronschuman.com/bryanschutmaatinterview.html
http://www.aperture.org/exhibition/bryan-schutmaat-grays-the-mountain-sends-exhibition/
http://www.thegreatleapsideways.com/?ha_exhibit=the-land-that-gives-birth-to-freedom-bryan-schutmaats-grays-the-mountain-sends
http://www.aperture.org/portfolio-prize/2013-winners/winner-bryan-schutmaat/
http://aintbadmagazine.com/Bryan-Schutmaat
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