~IMPERIAL VALLEY by PETER SUTHERLAND + MAIA RUTH LEE
oops. la la la . . .
PETER SUTHERLAND got a photo of someone in a shopping cart, too . . . !!
it’s in his new limited edition paperback book.
this is the cover of the book – which is really smart, sensitive, inquisitive, and small. pretty much all of 4 x 6 in. – the size 35 mm photos standard print at. it’s got like 40 pages, and it’s really sweet. not to say well, stunningly quiet, beautiful and profound . . . AMERICA. still plenty left – to explore.
the book’s got a nice soft feel to it – it’s bound at the top like a flip book.
titled: ‘Imperial Valley’ – it’s actually a photographic conceptual site specific collaboration between PETER SUTHERLAND and his girlfriend, MAIA RUTH LEE.
the back cover says it all:
Jan – Feb 2011
We set out from Colorado and headed for California with the intention of making sculptures with found junk in the desert. One of the first nights we watched the film “HOBO” (a film about rail riders, directed by John T. Davis) on dvd in a motel room. This was the first Maia had seen of train hoppers.
A few days later in Slab City we meet Possom and Phantom, two rail riders who were passing through. They were just like the dudes in the film and Maia was excited. They wanted to school us on train hopping, and told us we could follow them for three weeks and we would know everything about rail riding. They also told Maia, “It’s easy for cute gals to make money by wavin’ signs, you know, all you would need is a pet.. like a duck or somethin’.
You can make like $500 a day.”
The next day at a desolate gas station in Mojave, two twenty-something girls were sitting on the pavement raving about a friend who had just been spotted and arrested. They were rail riders and one of the girls was holding a duck. We had never heard or seen a person holding a duck before, especially in the middle of nowhere . . .
Peter Sutherland is a great storyteller.
Imperial Valley – by Peter Sutherland and Maia Ruth Lee
All images by Peter and Maia
Designed by Maia
Printed in Seoul Korea
Edition of 300
available from: DASHWOOD BOOKS – for $5
DASHWOOD BOOKS, open to the public since 2005, is located at 33 Bond St. between Lafayette and the Bowery.
It is New York City’s only independent book store devoted solely to photography.
see: petersutherland.tumblr.com
see: maiaruthlee.tumblr.com