The announcement of the first commercial space flight prompted Paul Freeman to explore the American mid-West, looking for and photographing the traces of the rocket age of the 1950s, as well as the new sites dedicated to space travel. Nostalgic Americana, sumptous landscapes, seemingly absurd space-age ephemera, all entertwined with a gentle sense of humour and a subtle political discourse, make Paul Freeman's series, Space Lands, a very compelling body of work.
Shown at the ASA Collective slideshow earlier this month, I was interested in how Paul's work seems to capture, highlight and magnify all the contradictions inherent in man's fascination with space, and the conceit to dominate it: the absurd and the tender, the laughable and the serious, the terrifying and the self-aggrandising, the desolate and the vibrant.
