Failing
Michael Brodie
Failing, Michael Brodie’s latest book, is his grimmest book to date. My first contact with the photographs by Michael Brodie (born in 1985 in Mesa, Arizona, USA) was through his monograph A Period of Juvenile Prosperity. The book published more than a decade ago in 2013. It contains Brodie‘s images of fellow rail riders and drifters, train hopping across America. His companions captured through initmate portraits set against cinematic frames of ever-changing landscapes. A Period of Juvenile Prosperity is nowadays seen as one of the best photobooks of all time.
After the success of A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, a second publication called Tones of Dirt and Bone came in 2015. A collection of polaroids, made in the early 2000’s. And than it became quiet. He abandoned the art world and became a diesel mechanic. Fell in love. Got married. Put down roots. And when that life ended, the road and photography called again.
Whereas A Period of Juvenile Prosperity merely hinted at darker currents, Failing plunges headfirst into the deep end. Failing is broken up in three chapters titled The Beginning, The Middle and The End. In the pictures we see life taking its course. In the beginning they point to a bright and positive future. The pictures go in the opposite direction of failure. But then, in the middle, it goes from really good to really bad in an unstoppable downwards spiral. Drugs have moved in and joy has moved out. We see chaos, addiction, darkness, dirth and, in the end, death. It shows the flip side of the American dream.
Failing
Photographer: Michael Brodie
Published by Twin Palms Publishers in 2024
412 pages, lay-flat bound softcover, 21,5 cm x 28 cm
193 four-color plates printed on uncoated paper
Screen printed synthetic jacket