SOUTHAM, Jem

About the British photographer, Jem SOUTHAM (b. 1950, in Bristol)

Jem SOUTHAM is one of the leading photographers of the United Kingdom. He is famous for his series of color landscape photographs, which began in the 1970s and continues to the present. His trademark is the patient observation of changes in a single place over many months or years. His subjects are primarily in the southwest of England, where he lives and works. He observes the balance between nature and human intervention, tracing the cycles of decay and renewal. In his work he combines topographical observations with other references: personal, cultural, political, scientific, literary and psychological. His working method combines the given with the intuitive. Taken together, his series suggest the treading of paths to visual and intellectual resolution. Jem SOUTHAM uses a large format camera (8 x 10 inches) to achieve a high level of detail.

Photo books by Jem SOUTHAM

'Floating Harbour: Landscape History of the Bristol City Docks' (1983, with John Lord); 'The Red River' (1989); 'The Raft of Carrots' (1992); 'Shape of Time. Rockfalls, Rivermouths, Ponds' (1999); 'Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize' (2001, with Roni HORN, Helen Van MEENE, Boris MIKHAILOV and Hannah STARKEY); 'Landscape Stories' (2005); 'The Painter's Pool' (2007); 'Vanishing Landscapes' (2008, together with other internationally renowned photographers, incl. Robert ADAMS, Edward BURTYNSKY, Hiroshi SUGIMOTO, a.o.), 'Rockfalls and Ponds' (2011); 'The River Winter' (2012); 'The Moth' (2018)