‘After the Flood’ (Book Review)
By Robert Polidori
Robert Polidori’s photo-book on one of the most horrific events in recent years, Hurricane Katrina, has a sense of power and grandeur to it. While the photography has been discussed in detail by others, this is a reflection on the physical format and storytelling techniques of the photographer that contributes towards its distinctive characteristics.
Size & Weight:
The book is large in size, 16” x 12” and weighs around 10 pounds. The size of the book and the photos that lay between them gives the issue it is covering a sense of importance. And of course, the weight of the book, as one tries to carry it around, makes the reader feel like they are looking at something that is not just a “flyer” issue, but rather a topic worthy of a fully researched “book.”
The photographs covers each page in its entirety and bleeds off the pages. There are no negative spaces in the page and the viewer can’t help but to look straight into the photographs — which are mostly of destructed homes. Having an image cover the whole page perhaps gives the viewer an opportunity to look directly into the room as if they are actually there rather than looking at it as a photograph of the place. The size of the pages help push the idea of “being there” further as it provides detail of each room and the objects within it. It further helps cover one’s full viewing area by blocking everything around it that may possibly distract the viewer.
Technique:
The technique used to covey the artist’s vision is repetition. There are at least 400 images in the book that follow and complement one another. Going through the book doesn’t make the viewer feel as if they are going through a “journey” or that the images in the book are somehow building on each other in the sense of a story. However, they do have an order, a very settle one that does seem to group pictures in a sequence that goes from cityscapes to homes and objects and then to signs of reconstruction; however the transitions are very settle and not obvious.
The photos feel more like “a day in a life of” concept where the photographer enters the city in the midst of destruction, documents it over a period and then leaves. The first images in the book are very similar to the last ones — both are of destroyed property.
Overall, the repetitive technique in the layout and ordering of the images along with the large size of the physical book it makes it an effective piece of artwork.
Mithaq Kazimi reviews visual works; more on perspactive & twitter.
