Alec Soth: Dog Days, Bogotá
Monday, June 4, 2007
(from “Dog Days, Bogotá”)
© Alec Soth
Alec Soth has recieved a great deal of deserved attention for both Sleeping by the Mississippi and Niagara. However, Dog Days, Bogotá, a powerful series of photographs that he made in Bagotá, Columbia in 2002 (shortly after finishing shooting for Sleeping by the Mississippi) feels all too often overlooked.
The basis for the project is touching, as explained by Alec:
My wife and I adopted our baby girl, Carmen Laura, from Bogotá, Colombia. While the courts processed her paperwork, we spent two months in Bogotá waiting to take Carmen home.
(from “Dog Days, Bogotá”)
© Alec Soth
Carmen’s birthmother gave her a book filled with letters, pictures and poems. “I hope that the hardness of the world will not hurt your sensitivity,” she wrote, “When I think about you I hope that your life is full of beautiful things.”
(from “Dog Days, Bogotá”)
© Alec Soth
With those words as a mission statement, I began making my own book for Carmen. In photographing the city of her birth, I hope I’ve described some of the beauty in this hard place.
One can imagine my excitement when I heard that Steidl is planning publication for Dog Days, Bogotá this coming July—96 pages, 65 colour plates.
As they say about the work, “Beauty makes itself known through ramshackle architecture, the companionship of animals, and the perseverance of the human spirit.”
Dog Days, Bogotá, Steidl, 2007
© Alec Soth
And good news for those of you that can’t wait; Dog Days, Bogotá can already be preordered through Amazon.
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June 4th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
great post Shane. i was going to write one similar after reading Jen Bekman’s post this morning.
i love that Alec is doing a book that’s grounded in his personal life in such a way. you’ll remember, that his first blog post was driven by the birth of his son as well. it’s a beautiful theme.
i hadn’t visited Dog Days in a while, but can’t stop looking at the images today. thanks.
June 4th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I’ve seen that series the first time i went to soth’s website, and even now, as much as i like the pictures, i hate the rounded corners.
I can’t look at the pictures in a normal way with those corners, they transform them into pretty objects, like cameos or something. So i really hope they’re not going to make those in the book, i’d be more than happy to get it then…
June 4th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I think it might be my favorite work from Alec Soth.
Not too sure about the rounded corners but it doesn’t bother me that much.
June 4th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
That’s by far his best project
June 5th, 2007 at 7:43 am
This is fantastic news; like Raoul I think this is my favorite of Soth’s projects (though I’m a little ambivalent about the rounded corners). I’ve often wondered why it gets so little attention.
June 10th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I found an interesting interview with Alec Soth on Artkrush. Check it out: http://www.artkrush.com/mailer/issue57/#interview