Midwest Materials
Julie Blackmon
Midwest Materials, the third monograph of American photographer Julie Blackmon (born 1966), shows the make-believe world of children.
Julie Blackmon is based in Springfield, Missouri. She uses her own family members and household to create her pictures. The staged pictures of Julie Blackmon are full of painterly references. One is 17th century Dutch scenes of domestic life such as Jan Steen’s paintings. Another is the paintings of modern artist Balthus. Midwest Materials follows on Domestic Vacations (2008) and Homegrown (2014).
At first glance, the pictures show the innocent make-believe world of children. A world where anything is possible. But there is plenty to read into each image of Midwest Materials and each image is an invitation to do just that. And when you do you notice there are all kind of dangers lurking. Many of the images in Midwest Materials train the eye to scan for potential danger. But the children are relaxed and defy the potential dangers. And then there are the grown-ups, just beyond the edge of the pictures, trying to invade this make-believe world of children.
For example, in the bottom right corner of the front cover a shadow can be seen. Perhaps an adult supervising ? In “The Hamster Handbook” children are trapped just like a hamster. Or in “Pool” where a knife is stuck in a halved melon, whick looks pretty dangerous. On the left side of the picture there are two arms reaching in, perhaps of an adult, trying to save a baby from the hands of a toddler. In “Peggy’s Beauty Shop” children are confronted with old age and their flaws. And in “Trapped” the subject is the election of Trump to President of the USA.
Midwest Materials is a book of considerable size. The majority of the photographs are sized to span the gutter. They occupy one full page plus a portion of the opposing page as well. Some photographs are full bleed blow-ups, in the service of providing greater detail.
Midwest Materials
Photographer: Julie Blackmon
Publisher: Radius Books
Published in 2022
Hardcover, 29,2 x 34,2 cm. 45 color images, 108 pages
Introduction by Leah Ollman
Shortlisted for the Lucie Photobook Prize 2022