Niagara

by Alec Soth, Philip Brookman, Richard Ford

By way of follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut monograph Sleeping by the Mississippi, Alec Soth turns his eye to another iconic body of water, Niagara Falls. And as with his photographs of the Mississippi, these images are less about natural wonder than human desire. "I went to Niagara for the same reason as the honeymooners and suicide jumpers," says Soth, "the relentless thunder of the Falls just calls for big passion." The subject may be hot, but the pictures are quiet, the rigorously composed and richly detailed products of a large-format 8x10 camera. Working over the course of two years on both the American and Canadian sides of the Falls, Soth edited the results of his labors down to a tight and surprising album. He depicts newlyweds and naked lovers, motel parking lots, pawnshop wedding rings and love letters from the subjects he photographed. We read about teenage crushes, workplace affairs, heartbreak and suicide. Oscar Wilde wrote, "The sight of the stupendous waterfall must be one of the earliest, if not the keenest, disappointments in American married life." Niagara brings viewers both the passion and the disappointment--a remarkable portrayal of modern love and its aftermath.

Genres: Photography, Art, Art and Photography

144 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2006

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

[dv]

Applicando nuovamente l'approccio usato in Sleeping by the Mississippi, Soth vaga intorno alle cascate del Niagara, meta abituale per coppie in luna di miele, chiedendo alla persone che incontra di poterle fotografare. E incontra storie che descrivono, anche nella relazione con gli esterni e gli interni dei motel della zona, un sentore cupo, solitario e disperato, accentuato dal perpetuo flusso delle cascate, perfettamente riflesso nel vestito di una sposa in una delle immagini. Soth qui usa anche il testo - lettere raccolte dalle persone che ha incontrato - in maniera molto efficace creando un secondo livello di dialogo fra immagini e parole. Senza dubbio un altro capolavoro contemporaneo, personalmente tuttavia un gradino sotto Sleeping by the Mississippi.

[Pearse Anderson]

Wasn't very happy with this photo book, in terms of photos selected, their context, and I guess the essays bookending it. One is from an awful, mean author named Richard Ford, and the other is from a critic who says that this photo book is like "going over the Niagara in a barrel." But it's not tho. It's so much more casual and quieter than that, def not as exciting. The last two pages of the book were the best part, which confused me: why not make the rest of the book have that collaged series of notes, explanations, and images? Hearing about Soth driving around feeling like a pervert and asking strangers weird things was hilarious and really opened up the book. I'm giving this like 5/10.

[Davy]

Another wonderful book from Alec Soth, and one of the strongest photo books I've come across in a while from a narrative standpoint. Each portrait, each setting, each love letter gives you a glimpse of a story. You never get all of one story, but you get enough glimpses to start to wrap your mind around Soth's Niagara. Which is no place you want to be -- physically or emotionally -- but a place full of passion and history and love and loss all the same.

[Bowen]

One of my favorite books of photography. Genuinely haunting images of a forgotten destination town.

[ASC Library]

770 Sot

[Allison T]

good nemerov lecture

[Ian Taylor]

If there was a nice apartment and I have a decent job and you felt happy and thought there could be a nice history together, would you come home?

[Kelly Sedinger]

Not a nature book filled with photos of the Falls! The Falls appear maybe three times in the whole book. It's about the somewhat grungier underbelly of the region and the people who live around it. Some deeply affecting work in here, including the two essays. There is nudity, btw. Not a problem for me, but you never know.