Dog Days Bogota

by Alec Soth

After completing the work for his first book, Sleeping by the Mississippi, in 2002, Alec Soth traveled with his wife to Bogota, Colombia, to adopt a baby girl. The baby's birth mother had given the new parents a book filled with letters, pictures and poems for their daughter. "I hope that the hardness of the world will not hurt your sensitivity," she wrote. "When I think about you I hope that your life is full of beautiful things." While the courts processed the adoption paperwork, and with these words as a mission statement, Soth set about making his own book for his daughter. Soth writes, "In photographing the city of her birth, I hope I've described some of the beauty in this hard place." This beauty makes itself apparent through ramshackle architecture, the companionship of animals and the perseverance of the human spirit. But Soth's photographs also transcend the simple description of beauty, roaming through a cast of strays, tough souls and small hints of hope.

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

Alec Soth (b. 1969) is a photographer born and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has published over thirty books including Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), NIAGARA (2006), Broken Manual (2010), Songbook (2015), I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating (2019), A Pound of Pictures (2022), and Advice for Young Artists (2024).

Soth has had over fifty solo exhibitions including survey shows organized by Jeu de Paume in Paris (2008), the Walker Art Center in Minnesota (2010), Media Space in London (2015), and the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2024). Soth has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). In 2008, Soth created Little Brown Mushroom, a multi-media enterprise focused on visual storytelling. Soth is represented by Sean Kelly in New York, Weinstein Hammons Gallery in Minneapolis, Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, Loock Galerie in Berlin, and is a member of Magnum Photos.

Reviews

[Chris Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alec Soth is one of the modern day greats in photography. His understated compositions of the mundane are vastly more powerful than the highly saturated, fleshy, glitzy photography world of social media. His is a welcome mental break from so much loudness.

This book is a particularly apt example of Soth at his best. 50 images, 9" x 9" square book where every image is 5" square. The design alone is understated and speaks in a whisper. It is the result of a 2-month stay in Bogota while he and his wife awaited the adoption of their child. He finds details in the architecture and landscape that reveal both truth and beauty. Minimalist views of people's rooms, with or without them in it, show personality beyond what is fed to us by the media. Color itself is stripped down for the sake of calmness.

In days where people was bigger, saturated, sexy images, Soth shows us a much needed alternative.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book stemming from a trip to adopt his daughter in Columbia and wanting to provide her with a picture of where she came from in the time she came from there. Soth does it again. Showing us the ordinary in an extraordinary way.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soth is one of the most interesting contemporary photographers. This book just confirms it: It consists of pictures taken in Bogota while waiting for the documents to adopt his daughter, born there. Through simple takes, it transmits the deep feelings of humankind, as always.

[R.a. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great work, just prefer his American oeuvre. He's American, he "gets" America very well for better or worse. That is where his gift is to us. At this point.