A tour of 'parallel' places
It is a concept which would draw interest from artist and scientist alike, to compare the contexts of the five 'lpswiches' around the globe. Charles Page has carried his camera to Ipswich in South Dakota and Massachusetts, Suffolk, Jamaica and Queensland, to photograph the landscape, people and way of life of each district. His collection was exhibited recently at Global Arts Link, Ipswich, Australia. Of course the districts' name reflects the common thread which weaves throughout each society, that of British imperialism. The group is further unified through Page's treatment of his subject, each composition is oddly cropped and the subjects are immediate, the spectator is instantly engaged and in close proximity to the scene. The overall effect of the 'rudimentary' compositions is that of a documentary mode of representation, strengthened by the use of black and white film. If documentary photography implies objective reality, the effect is deceiving, as there is little reality in this exhibition.
Page subscribes to stereotypical discourse on landscape in his representation of Ipswich in South Dakota. The vast empty spaces of Dakota are silenced through sparsity. It is a view of nature reminiscent of the sublime in landscapes of the nineteenth century. The silence of the landscape resounds in the photographs taken from inside the vacuum of a car interior. Flat and motionless, the landscape is broken here and there by signs of industry, but on the whole is represented as timeless, fixed, constant and unchanging. It is a romantic view, an artist's perception which colours the lens of these 'documentary' images.
While Ipswich in Dakota is fixed in silent restraint, Massachusetts, Queensland and Suffolk are animated with the activity of suburban neighbourhoods. Perhaps