Encounter photographer and book artist Ralph Gibson elaborating on his book Deja-Vu
Excerpt from the documentary Ralph Gibson: Photographer/Book Artist (2002).
Checkerboard Film Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
[Music in]
RALPH GIBSON: I wasn't interested in the so-called world of reality. I wasn't interested in photographing other people's world. I was interested primarily in introspecting as much as I could with my camera.
[Music out]
I went on to do another book called "Deja-Vu," for which I got a National Endowment grant. And, again, we're using the same--the same system of bookmaking--I had formed a press called Lustrum Press--but we were using the same system of putting type down--this is transfer type that I rubbed on--gluing in a picture. I wanted to establish a relationship between the two sizes of the pictures, because I knew that when you opened the book your eye went to the right-hand page first then back over to the left. So I wanted to diminish the importance of the right-hand page by making--by making that page smaller, which led to this idea. In this--in this particular pair--in this particular--the space between the pictures harbors as much content as the pictures themselves. Here, I have two photographs producing a third effect. This is actually a guy sitting in the pier in New York, and this is Larry Clark playing with a gun in--in--in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This figure lifts his arm; the gesture is completed 3,000 miles away. The--the pistol fires a round, and it creates a straight line in space. I didn't have that idea until I was laying out the book. Process--one thing leads to the next.
RALPH GIBSON: I wasn't interested in the so-called world of reality. I wasn't interested in photographing other people's world. I was interested primarily in introspecting as much as I could with my camera.
[Music out]
I went on to do another book called "Deja-Vu," for which I got a National Endowment grant. And, again, we're using the same--the same system of bookmaking--I had formed a press called Lustrum Press--but we were using the same system of putting type down--this is transfer type that I rubbed on--gluing in a picture. I wanted to establish a relationship between the two sizes of the pictures, because I knew that when you opened the book your eye went to the right-hand page first then back over to the left. So I wanted to diminish the importance of the right-hand page by making--by making that page smaller, which led to this idea. In this--in this particular pair--in this particular--the space between the pictures harbors as much content as the pictures themselves. Here, I have two photographs producing a third effect. This is actually a guy sitting in the pier in New York, and this is Larry Clark playing with a gun in--in--in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This figure lifts his arm; the gesture is completed 3,000 miles away. The--the pistol fires a round, and it creates a straight line in space. I didn't have that idea until I was laying out the book. Process--one thing leads to the next.