Bus-spotting + a story

BUS-SPOTTING + A STORY
4 books on a slipcase
108 pages, b&w, duotone and colour
21 x 30 cm (Parts 1, 2 ,4) and 14.8 x 21 (Part 3)
Laser printed on Fabriano 120gsm and 200gsm (slipcase)
Edited and designed by paula roush
Text by Mireille Ribière, with Colin Stannard
Photographs from the Found Photo Foundation
by Colin Stannard, Douglas F. Parker, G. Mead, J. G. S. Smith, Phil Picken, Robert F. Mack, T.E.S., T. L. Jones, and unknown photographers.
edition of 250, numbered and signed, released 2016
msdm publications

BUS-SPOTTING + A STORY is a 4-part photo-essay.
Parts 1 and 2 (Bus Ride) comprise a sequence of 32 photographs in the form of twin books, split in images of double and single-decker buses. Far from being static, the collaged sequence suggests a bus ride through past time and spaces. The momentum stems from the varying points of view the constantly changing street scenes, as well as from the way complete and partial images alternate and run on from page to page, leading the reader’s eye back and forth.

Part 3 (A Story) engages with the narrative and fictional potential of found photographs – a different approach to the material – using text and image with reference to the genre of photo-romance.

Part 4 (Transport Enthusiasts) elucidates the raison d’être of the overall work, as well as the context in which the photographs were taken, through correspondence with one of the original photographers; additional material such as the reproduction of the copyright stamps at the back of the prints, as well as a letter dated 1971 between a photographer and a collector further highlight the tangible nature of the collection.

Bus-spotting + a story marks the launch of the Found Photo Foundation’s Orphan Series.
Each work in the series explores a particular approach to publishing the printed material in the Found Photo Foundation archive. Orphan #1 Bus-spotting + a story is the result of the collaboration between paula roush, artist, publisher and creator of the Found Photo Foundation and Mireille Ribière, author, photographer and scholar.

Selected for:

The Photo-text Award at Arles Les Rencontres de la Photographie
July 4- Sept 25, 2016
THE PHOTO-TEXT Award, supported by the Jan Michalski foundation for writing and literature, rewards the best work mixing images and texts, whether through the interweaving of text in the image, the preponderant place of writing within the dummy book or a writer’s text that supports the photographic intention.

Kaleid Editions exhibition at the KhiO Oslo
National Academy of the Arts Library

"Rigorosamente Libri" IV Biennale del Libro d’Artisti
“Strictly Books...” IV Biennial of The Artist’s Book
Selected by Maddalena Carnaghi and curated by Vito Capone & Gaetano Cristino
Fondazione de Monte Uniti di Foggia
June 1- July 15 2019