Faceland

by Peter Maurer

"Faceland" portrays people and their corresponding landscapes from six different European Finland, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, Rumania and Sardinia. The black-and-white faces are larger than life and look directly at the camera, revealing every pore, every little hair to the onlooker. The photos in colour capture the peoples' rural landscapes, presenting wind, grass, clumps, and rocks. These are no untouched natural landscapes, but cultivated land, exploited and formed by its inhabitants and, like the portraits, always recorded in the very same way. How do we recognise a Polish face or a Finnish landscape The photos provide awareness for cliches and force the viewer to think about his own perception.

Hardcover

Published September 1, 2009