Bill Owens presents New Suburbia



In the 1970's Owens photographed in black and white, which was the standard. Artists including Frank Gohlke, Garry Winogrand, Robert Adams also photographed our environment, focusing on the banal landscape of new housing developments and other aspects of America's burgeoning, upwardly mobile population. Owens' current photo essay is in color. Images include suburban homes, somewhat larger than the ticky-tacky houses of the 1970's. Shopping Malls, monuments, food, billboards, and retail establishments together make a statement about the bizarre and colorful world we live.Bill Owens jumped to fame as a photographer with the publication of his book Surburbia in 1972. Owens had taken up photography while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica.

Bill Owens presents New Suburbia

Photographs Do Not Bend presents: Bill Owens: New Suburbia

By Pegasus News wire

Bill Owens, Monument Valley, 2006

Image provided by PDNB

Bill Owens, Monument Valley, 2006

New Suburbia is Bill Owens' most recent document of how we live. His famous book and photography series, Suburbia, was released in the early 1970's. Almost 4 decades later Bill Owens set out to photograph the peculiar aspects of our common lives.

In the 1970's Owens photographed in black and white, which was the standard. Artists including Frank Gohlke, Garry Winogrand, Robert Adams also photographed our environment, focusing on the banal landscape of new housing developments and other aspects of America's burgeoning, upwardly mobile population.

Owens' current photo essay is in color. Images include suburban homes, somewhat larger than the ticky-tacky houses of the 1970's. Shopping Malls, monuments, food, billboards, and retail establishments together make a statement about the bizarre and colorful world we live.

Bill Owens did not journey through the country in the past few years without a plan. As he did in the 1970's, he listed all the places and subjects that he thought would be iconic to Suburban life in the 21st Century. The Suburbia document becomes a time capsule, while giving us a chance to look at ourselves now.

Two Bill Owens books have been released this year: Working - His 1970's document of people at work, and Bill Owens - A retrospective monograph that includes New Suburbia photographs.

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: November, 2008; RPCV Bill Owens (Jamaica) ; Figures; Peace Corps Jamaica; Directory of Jamaica RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Jamaica RPCVs; Photography

When this story was posted in December 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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