Description

Though measuring just under six inches square, this ambitiously conceived project is the photo-book version of a power bar—thick, rich, at times hard to chew, but re-energizing nonetheless. There is no opening text whatsoever. One is thrown immediately into Rio Branco’s visual world, the first scenes of which are a vast desert. But from here the viewer is led haphazardly through a free-associof dream-like imagery. Every other page is a fold-out, each time producing a triptych of full-bleed photographs. A gathering of living artifacts and clues seems to be taking place, yet, quite intentionally it seems, no over-arching picture emerges. This is a questioning process, as Strauss’ poetic text, with overt references to Plato’s cave, makes clear. The accompanying DVD sets the entire book in motion.

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