Reading Time: < 1 minute
Poetic writing and wistful imagery is certainly paired in dream-like narrative
Whistling for Owls is definitely London-based photographer and writer Max Ferguson’s debut photobook and the first publication through his new imprint, Oblong Press. The enigmatic guide is described by Ferguson as: “image and textual content; France and London; memoir and fiction; truth plus lies”. Quiet photographs, alternating between colour and black-and-white, frame rich landscapes, one figures and unexpected details. There’s the corner of a cluttered kitchen, a cobweb of shattered glass, light dripping in through the curvature in between two pale, fleshy thighs.
“We were standing on front side deck of a small ferry, smoking cigarettes and waiting for the boat to get the all-clear. It was not being far from house, she told me, that was difficult, but being close. The particular proximity of what you love makes you so lonely. ”
The short texts punctuating the publication enhance its secret. The prose is ambiguous and poetic, inciting us to develop a loose story of our own also influenced by the images. But , regardless of Whistling for Owls’ ambiguity, a strong sense of like, loss and longing spreads throughout the pages. As states one particularly poignant text: “We were standing on the front deck of a small ferry, smoking cigarettes and waiting for the particular boat to get the all-clear. It had been not being far from house, she told me, that was difficult, but being close. The particular proximity of what you like makes you so lonely. ”
um valpress. co. united kingdom
Whistling with regard to Owls by Max Ferguson is available to pre-order now
