I am very honored to announce that my Ciociaria Limited Edition Fiuggi (book + print) is now in the permanent collection of the Frick Fine Arts Library at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Ciociaria – Fiuggi edition will join my other books that in their permanent collection. Ciociaria was published by Edizioni Punctum in 2011 and two book + print limited editions, Fiuggi and Morolo Cachi, were self-published in 2012. The limited edition of Morolo Cachi is sold out. Both are in edition sizes of 25.
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Karen Jenkins review (photo-eye)
A dichotomy is suggested between this variation on street photography and unpopulated landscape or topographical views. In this guise, Stockdale rejects both narrative reportage and the purely picturesque. He instead delves in between – seeking places where the strange becomes familiar and the familiar strange – creating touchstones of personal symbolism that transcend the particulars of Ciociaria.
Within this realm, Stockdale takes a deadpan look at the human-altered landscape, finding in the banal a cross-cultural link to broader metaphorical meaning. Yet the book is also studded with heavily lyrical images (not least of which is the final view of a misty, open road).
What I liked best about these photographs is how simply they capture the relentless and sometimes beautiful, sometimes bewildering encroachment of the natural world on man-made environments. I find Stockdale to be a keen observer of how people attempt to compartmentalize and contain nature for both practical use and domestic enjoyment. Throughout Ciociaria nature is carpet, canopy, curtain – served up as potted plants and rolls of grain. When humans do occasionally appear in Stockdale’s photographs, they are on a diminutive scale and more than once seem to be found in perplexed contemplation of the pruned forms and boxed lawns of their own devising. Garlands of laundry, rumpled banners, and fences in various states of dominance over the wild and cultivated string image to image.
A theme of the memorial also emerges, wherein nature is shown as an inextricable part of how we commemorate loss and reckon with the passing of time, seen here in wilted bouquets, neglected fountains and shrines embedded in the rolling hillsides.
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Ciociaria is also in the permanent collection of Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (MACRO), Rome, Italy and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, Boston, MA.
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Cheers,
Doug
Ciociaria is available from me (doug@douglasstockdale.com) in the trade edition ($50.00 USD) and one of my two limited edition book + print, Fiuggi ($150.00 USD). Included in these prices is shipping within the USA and the CA sales tax. Please inquire about international shipping.
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Book workshop:
I will be leading a Creative Photo Book workshop with the Southeast Center of Photography (SEC4P), a virtual event on Zoom; November 6 & 7th and 13 & 14th, 2021, 10 AM – 1 PM, EDT (3 hour session each day, with a week between the weekend sessions to work your book-dummy). Registration is now open, and there is a SEC4P membership discount. It is SOLD OUT & wait-list has been started.
Developing a Creative Photo Book, a virtual (Zoom) workshop I will be leading again in conjunction with Medium Photo with New dates: March 5 – 6, 12 – 13, 2022 More details and sign-up available now at Medium Photo.
Singular Images 