"CHARLES BRITTIN: WEST AND SOUTH". Collectif. Editions Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, en collaboration avec Foggy Notion Books, Santa Monica. 2011. Imprimé en Allemagne. in-4, couverture cartonnée photo. 216 pages. Texte en anglais de Charles Brittin & Kristine McKenna, illustré de 139 reproductions photographiques noir & blanc (une en couleurs), hors texte, dont 53 en double page, par Charles Brittin. Ouvrage réalisé dans le cadre de l'exposition éponyme à la Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, du 16 Avril au 14 Mai 2011.

 

"…When I look at the pictures from those years it makes me feel nostalgic. During the sixties I knew a lot of people who were willing to take chances to defend things they believed in - they were risking their lives for civil rights, and in protest against the Vietnam War. Most of the people I know today who oppose what's going on in America aren't prepared to do anything serious. Important problems aren't well covered by the media, and there are too many things that soften the edges - people are absorbed in the details of everyday life. I think the racial tensions America struggled with during the sixties - and many of the problems we face today - are rooted in the fear of strangers. Fear of the unknown seems to be an essential part of our animal nature, and strangeness can manifest itself in many different ways: skin color, speaking a different language, just looking or behaving differently. That fear may have been an evolutionary necessity - the unknown is likely to be hazardous - so being suspicious of outsiders, and aligning yourself with a clan, or a tribe, or a nation, had survival advantages. Unfortunately, those fears can lead to terrible atrocities, too, and most people don't try very hard to overcome their fear, because that's hard work." Charles Brittin.

 

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