“It is perhaps obvious that the history of photography is shaped by the preconceptions that one brings to it; more simply, a specific understanding of photography produces a specific version of the medium’s history. But those histories are, in the end, multiple and divergent, often stranger than standard accounts allow for. David Campany’s recent publication a Handful of Dust traces one such overlooked route and in doing so finds it connecting with the main intellectual currents of the 20th Century in such a way that also presents a model for a sort of de-centred history of the medium. These discursive narratives have become something of a speciality for Campany of late, with his definitive account of Walker Evans’ magazine career being a particular highlight, but Dust is probably his most intellectually ambitious yet. It doesn’t exactly seem that way on first glance however, given that the premise of the book is essentially like taking an idea for a walk, using a single photograph by Man Ray as a starting point. At the same time, it’s hardly a coincidence that his chosen route brings him through the kind of fertile territory that it does, at the intersection of aesthetic and social upheaval so definitive of the period, tracing unlikely commonalities that nonetheless appear inevitable once they have been pointed out.”
- I wrote about David Campany’s book a Handful of Dust for Paper Journal. You can read the rest here.
