Devil’s Promenade
Antone Dolezal + Lara Shipley
£85
Dolezal and Shipley return to their home region of the Ozarks in the American Midwest, where locals persist in their search for a legendary floating orb of light that can only be seen from the Devil’s Promenade. It’s a lushly wooded road in an area where wanderers flock to seek possible redemption, or just to escape the boredom and darkness of ordinary rural life. Subtle but revealing portraits are mixed with archives and reinterpretations of mythical, folkloric tales. It’s a nuanced, mysterious and tender representation by photographers returning to the place where they grew up, but also reveals the current, stark realities of a remote place in America.
FIRST EDITION Trade Hardcover, 17 x 23 cm portrait, 152 pages
Section-sewn binding with cloth-covered spine; foil on printed paper cover + spine
104 photographs and illustrations; Afterword text by Lara Shipley
Published January 2021 | ISBN: 9781999446857
OUT OF PRINT / RARE COPY
In stock
Description
Longtime collaborators, Antone and Lara currently live at nearly opposite ends of the United States (Nevada and Michigan), but their point for making this work meets in the middle, at the physiographic intersection of four heartland states. Together they have documented Ozark people and landscape over a period of almost 10 years, drawn first by a desire to reconnect with their past, then compelled to relate something of the character and rituals of an area where locals can become skittish around strangers. Their photographic interests encompass culture, identity, folklore and mythology of place—but forming a clear picture of this isolated place is complicated.
“Ozarkers always have been somewhat dualistic, believing that two great forces—one good and one evil—battle for control in each person.” – Stanley Burgess
The roots of Ozark folklore were formed by 19th century pioneer settlers from Scotland, Ireland, Britain and Germany. From early on they had a penchant for sharing jokes and colorfully embellished stories within their community, passing down superstitions and lore to younger generations. The locals’ jubilant gatherings also involved square dancing to their self-proclaimed “hillbilly” country songs.
Meanwhile, religion is central to social life in the Ozarks, having strongly shaped the area over more than two centuries. Evangelical and Fundamentalist organizations have long held world headquarters there, and Mennonites and Amish have formed substantial settlements. The locals are generally proud of their rural values and individualistic, traditional approach to life.
With Devil’s Promenade, the photographers take us along their journey into the thick woods where anything might happen; you may either bathe in the light of salvation, or come face-to-face with the Devil on a bridge, in the inky dark.
Design by Tiffany Jones
The Author
Antone Dolezal is a visual artist and author whose body of work surveys the cultural and political dynamics of American folklore and mythology. His work has been exhibited widely and is held in notable public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Antone’s photographs have been published with Candor Arts, Conveyor Editions, Fuego Books, GEO, National Public Radio, Oxford American, Smithsonian Magazine, Dear Dave, and he is the recipient of numerous awards including the Daylight Photo Award Juror’s Pick, MoCP Snider Prize, OVAC Visual Arts Grant and Syracuse University Visual and Performing Arts Fellowship. Antone has lectured and taught workshops at academic and non-profit institutions throughout the United States and currently teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno. www.antonedolezal.com
Lara Shipley is an Assistant Professor of photography at Michigan State University. As a photographer and bookmaker, she primarily makes work about rural culture, identity, mythology, storytelling and photography’s relationship to evidence. She has had major exhibitions in galleries across the United States, as well as part of the recent biennial at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and GuatePhoto International Photography Festival in Guatemala. Her work is in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Nelson Atkins Museum for Art in Kansas City. She received a Masters of Fine Arts in photography from Arizona State University and a Bachelors of Photojournalism from the University of Missouri. www.larashipley.com
Reviews + Press
“Holding the book feels like you’re in possession of something magical. In many ways, you are… The people and scenes feel familiar somehow, their worldview emanating a subliminal, relatable atmosphere, prompting self-reflection rather than pitiful distancing. Devil’s Promenade is at once about the Ozarks and ourselves as human beings, alluding to the ways we’ve hidden stories away, deeming them illegitimate, only to make them more susceptible to misunderstanding and misinterpretation.” – Cat Lachowskyj, British Journal of Photography
“Shipley and Dolezal move beyond the limits of traditional documentary photography, and create images that more readily suggest multiple layers of meaning. Moving between description and invention, they present a complex, perceptive, and compassionate picture of a place and its people isolated from mainstream culture.” – April Watson, Photography curator at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
This will surely be a valued book in your collection, from two young and working photographers who promise to continue to produce worthwhile projects and collectible books. – Melanie McWhorter, Grenade in a Jar Books
See more:
Photo-eye review by Kyler Zeleny
Collector Daily review by Olga Yatskevich
British Journal of Photography review, “Searching for meaning in folkloric tales”
C4 Journal review, “You and Me and the Devil Makes Three”
El Pais – Babelia review (Spanish)
Leica LFI Magazine, Print issue April 2021
Yield Magazine Interview
Fisheye Magazine feature, “In the Land of the Devil”
Yogurt magazine
Nowhere Diary
Selected pre-release features
Dirty Laundry
FotoRoom
Special Notes
*FINALIST Lucie Photobook Awards – First Photobook Prize (Independent)
*PHOTOBOOK JUNKIES Top 9 Favourite Photobooks of 2021
*Holiday Catalogue Selection 2021, Skylight Books
*Visitor Guide Recommended Books, (PDF) Polycopies 2021
*Curated selection Fiebre Photobook Festival 2021 – Isabel Garcia lazaro, Art Historian & Cultural Manager
*Urbanautica Institute Annual Awards Winner for Devil’s Promenade series – Anthropology and Territories category
*Photobookstore Recommended Pick, 2021
*Photoeye Curated selection, March 2021
*Bestseller Photoeye Bookstore, January and June 2021
*Curated selection Fiebre Photobook Festival 2020 – Gabriela Cendoya, Collector
*Curated selection Fiebre Photobook Festival 2020 – Gonzalo Golpe, Editor & Designer
Events 2022
13 March, 2pm PST – Devil’s Promenade book signing w/ Antone Dolezal & Lara Shipley at Skylight Books Los Angeles
Events 2021
August 10, 7pm EST: Artist Talk on The Naked Truth w/ Antone Dolezal & Lara Shipley
Society for Photographic Education Conference – Imagining Legacy: Archives, Collections & Memoria
July 17, 6.30pm CET: Artist Talk at Charta Festival, Rome – Details
April 15, 6:30pm EST: Artist Talk on Devil’s Promenade with Antone Dolezal & Lara Shipley
Arkansas State University – Delta Symposium XXVI: The Haunted South
Events 2020
Advance pre-order launch during Polycopies 2020, 11-15 November
Devil’s Promenade is held in the following collections:
AGO Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives (Toronto, CA)
The British Library (UK)
Arts University Bournemouth (UK)
Bodleian Libraries University of Oxford (UK)
Cambridge University Library (UK)
Central University for Art History, Library (Munich, DE)
Haas Library Special Collections, New Haven (USA)
École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie (Arles, FR)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (USA)
Museum of Modern Art, MOMA (NY, USA)
National Library of Scotland (UK)
National Library of Wales (UK)
San Telmo Museum – The Gabriela Cendoya Bergareche Collection (ES)
Library of Trinity College Dublin (UK)
TSU/Pickler Library Missouri (USA)
University of Arkansas – Fayetteville (USA)
University of Nevada, Reno (USA)
University of Sunderland (UK)
University for the Creative Arts, Farnham (UK)