Where the Heart Is

Robert Adams usually captures landscapes and wide open spaces, but he has also created a body of work titled Around The House, which documents his own home and the areas surrounding it. This resonates with me because I am also sort of documenting the happenings of my own home, particularly given the current lockdown and movement restrictions imposed in Australia.

“The nature of photography is to engage life. It’s made of life. Life is complex, and I often think photography is similarly complicated. At least it seems so, to me.” (Adams, 2016.)

The images are not particularly grand or bold, but you can feel a sense of familiarity when you look at them. They feel intimate without feeling intrusive.

The image of the birds on the beach, in particular, evokes the tone of a Rinko Kawauchi image. Capturing a fleeting moment that may never re-occur, it is soft, quiet, and calm. There is a sense of content in these images- they feel as if the photographer was very comfortable and relaxed during the act of taking them.

(1) The Guardian, 2016, Where the heart is: US photographer Robert Adams heads home – in pictures, viewed 18 April 2020 <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/apr/07/robert-adams-around-the-house-fraenkel-gallery>