I've always enjoyed experiencing abstract images, and I've often struggled with other, more popular, genres of photography. The overly processed landscape photos one sees posted online often remind me of the paintings of Bob Ross, and not in a good way. Likewise, I think street photography is incredibly difficult to do well, and much of what you see on Instagram looks like stock photography to my jaded eye. On the other hand, hunting for Motherwellian or Egglestonian compositions in the built environment is fun, for sure, but haven't these ideas been covered pretty well already?
So, what about Stephen Gill's latest work, "Please Notify the Sun"? In the absence of context, these are simply abstract images. One could argue that they are an exercise in formalism and why would he do such a thing? But, of course, we are provided with a deeply interesting backstory, and learn that the images are macro-scale photographs of a decomposing fish. A captivating fish story if you will. I guess it is the interaction of the words and images that is the critical factor here; we are engaged because we want to hear about Gill's experience.
