An iconic project made at the height of 'Troubles', Troubled Land tackles the small but insistent signs of political division embedded in the landscape of Northern Ireland. At the heart of the Irish conflict is the land: who owns it, who controls it, whose history it expresses. Paul Graham's quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind as it uniquely blends landscape and conflict photography, seducing us with bucolic views in which telltale details only gradually appear: painted curbs, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, paint-splattered highways, each tacitly aligning that location with its Republican or loyalist allegiance. Pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows reveal themselves as images of conflict and dispute; despite the firmness of the photographic frame and the clarity of Graham's vision, this is shaky ground. Originally published in 1986, Troubled Land is reprinted here for the first time in thirty-five years. Controversial then for its use of color and its refusal to follow the cliches of photojournalism, the book was instrumental in providing a new perspective on Northern Ireland's "troubles" and left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it might relate with politics and society. instead of escaping from them. Along with A1 - The Great North Road and Beyond Caring, it completes a new edition of Graham's remarkable trilogy of books made in the 1980s in the UK.
Linen hardcover with inserted image
32.2 x 24.3cm,
80 pages
The signed edition includes an unpublished image as a plaque signed by the artist and pasted inside the back cover.
