Puddles of standing water foreground a junk yard. “I wanted to capture that heavy feeling of intense humidity, the high point of swelter, when you start sweating as soon as you move and never dry off all day.” Photographs move from one damp scene to another. “Atmospherically, it’s a wet book,” Hatleberg recently told The Guardian. Southern steaminess is a persistent sub-current in River’s Dream. What began as a series of scattered road trips across the country has focused tightly around the Southern states, in particular northern Florida, “-the real Florida, some might say,” as described by Joy Williams in the afterword.
As for the photographs, Hatleberg has narrowed the scope from early previews. A marbleized dust jacket, embossed author seal, and deep crimson accents signal a book intended to lay down a marker. River’s Dream is an oversized magnum opus approaching the weightiest offerings of Twin Palms or Nazraeli. But TBW has made a valiant effort with their most ambitious tome yet. In the face of such heavy expectations, it’s a tall order for any publisher to satisfy all. The initial run of 1000 copies sold out before publication (this was the r ed edition the blue edition remains available as of this writing). When word came last fall that River’s Dream would finally be released as a monograph, anticipation was at fever pitch. Sandwiched amidst these snippets was Hatleberg’s related project Lost Coast (reviewed here), published as a monograph in 2016 and later excerpted in the Paul Graham curation But Still, It Turns at the ICP (reviewed here).Įach iteration was a small glimpse of the whole series to come, tantalizing trailers to whet the appetite of photoland. Selections from River’s Dream were exhibited at Higher Pictures in 2017 (reviewed here ), at the Whitney Biennial in 2019 (reviewed here), and again at Higher Pictures Generation last fall (a brief selection which excised humans, reviewed here). Pictures from the series continued to turn up in small batches over the next few years, on Conscientious, Aint-Bad, Huffington Post, and other sites.Īs Hatleberg’s career has accelerated, venues have gained prestige and visibility. “Curran Hatleberg’s Intimate Photos of Strangers Met on Road Trips Across America,” blared a 2013 Feature Shoot headline, an early description which wasn’t far from the truth. Hatleberg and his camera would arrive in some corner of the U.S., settle in, and work his way behind the social veneer. The project’s initial working title was “Shadow Country”, and its aim was relatively open ended. For forty-year old Baltimore photographer Curran Hatleberg, that represents a quarter of a lifetime and a sizable investment of time and energy. Comments/Context: The photographs in River’s Dream are drawn from a ten year period between 20.
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