There Is No Light at the End of the Tunnel Because the Tunnel Is Made of Light

by Ryan Spencer (Photographer), Rebecca Bengal (Contributor)

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 7, 2024

About the author

Ryan Spencer is an artist, producer and photography book editor based in New York. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and received his MFA in photography from Pratt University. His series of Polaroids, Romance & Adventure, which chronicled the history of The World Trade Center in popular film was exhibited at Dust Gallery in Las Vegas, Nevada and featured in NY Arts Magazine in 2006. Such Mean Estate was Ryan Spencer’s first monograph, published by Powerhouse Books in 2015. There Is No Light at the End of the Tunnel Because the Tunnel Is Made of Light was published in March 2024 by TBW Books and shortlisted for the Rencontres d'Arles Photo-Text Book Award. His work has been Featured in Guernica Magazine, Blonde Art Books, The New Yorker and Aperture. He is also an occasional contributing writer and photographer for BOMB Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, and sometimes plays drums.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I took the photographs, the book was really a collaborative effort. Rebecca Bengal's brilliant text is the perfect passage to introduce the project. She is rad, go buy her book, "Strange Hours: Photography, Memory, and the Lives of Artists." The drawings which mark the chapters within the book were made by tattoo artist Chummy Alexanian; and the book was designed by Jason Munn with Paul Schiek. Paul is the publisher of TBW Books and supported this project all along the way. I never heard any of these people say anything was "good enough" during this project, and for all of them I'd give this book 5 million stars if I could.

[Lee Satkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

superb!!

[Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this concept. Seems like half these ethereal polaroids were made in bed, half-drunk at 1am. Maybe I'm projecting. Regardless, I admire how much it commits to the bit. There's the red-tinged, pulp paperback presentation, and while I thought the large amount of images would ruin the mystery, it actually propels one deeper into it, like a lost David Lynch film or something.