Dash Snow Polaroids

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Dash Snow originally started taking photos when he was a yobbish teenager. Using his Polaroids as a diaristic record of the many ‘nights before’ he couldn’t remember, his snapshots piece together a fragmented portrait of peripheral existence. Filling in the voids of his blackouts, Snow’s photos broach the seedy and taboo with a dislocated intimacy. Suggesting a subplot of double-identity, Snow’s camera operates as a tool of psychological intervention. Creating a ‘memory bank’ through a lens, he becomes an observer of his own life, forging the personal as dissociative media experience. 

Working in similar genre to Nan Goldin and Richard Billingham, Snow’s images are uncomfortable in their subject matter. Instances of sex, drugs, violence, and poverty are documented with disarming frankness and honesty. Offering a unique insight into an alternative lifestyle, Snow uncovers a poetic beauty within the dissolute and discarded.

Photos by Maríam Sitchinava

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Although widely represented and hyped on social media (eg. Facebook and Etsy), it was not until her recent Urban Outfittersshoot that Maríam Sitchinava caught my eye. Georgia based Maríam is definitely a fresh face in photography but has gained a large loyal fan base in no time, definitely one to watch.

Aside from her work for Urban Outfitters, she has been showcased on different websites and blogs and made a book cover for Tiffany Murray’s novel “Diamond Star Halo”. At this stage she’s occupied with personal projects but she hopes to take photography to a more professional level and maybe one day be featured in Vogue.
Beautiful images by Maríam Sitchinava via bentrovatoblog.com.

The Ruins of Detroit

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Detroit, industrial capital of the XXth Century, played a fundamental role shaping the modern world. The logic that created the city also destroyed it. Nowadays, unlike anywhere else, the city’s ruins are not isolated details in the urban environment. They have become a natural component of the landscape. Detroit presents all archetypal buildings of an American city in a state of mummification. Its splendid decaying monuments are, no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great Empire.

After seeing Requiem for Detroit again yesterday I googled some more. Looking for the soundtrack I stumbled upon these photographs by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. Check their "The Ruins of Detroit" book, more info here. I also found these awesome news reels and photographs by the Wayne State University. Also check the Palladium version with Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Detroit.