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Flâneur

2021-04-01

Zine: I got my hands-on a zine produced by my friend @connorjirving.

Titled Flâneur, the French term for an observer of contemporary urban life, Connor returned to his hometown as a visitor. He engaged nostalgic urban scenery with a psychogeographic methodology capturing candid street photography and banal new topographic imagery.

Here are some of my favourite spreads.

The invasive buddleia, a plant that escaped Kew gardens in the 1890’s next to a permit sign.

To the left are Himalayan balsam, another invasive unwanted plant, and travellers.

Empty town buildings; a stop sign for the economic decline

Gardens are always interesting cultural spaces, they say a lot about their custodian.

The photographer and Flâneur: Susan Sontag defines the photographer as an armed flâneur seeking the subversive underlining rather than the authorities suggested identity. The armed flâneur is an archetype photographer dating to the medium's inception.

On Photography, Sontag, page 55