In these times when the distant, become inaccessible, and makes people dream again and takes back its place in the imagination. When the roads to the east are deserted (of tourists and adventurers, if not merchandise), we felt the urge to head east following in the footsteps of three remarkable books:
Going East, by Max Pam
End Time City, by Michael Ackerman
Al Mukalla, by Paolo Roversi
The first two set a milestone and dedicated the discovery of two photographers with unique eyes and styles.
This is Going East by Max Pam
Going East brings together twenty years of travels in Asia, which MaxPam began at the end of the sixties. In the preface to the book, released in 1992, he wrote: “I left London with a Hasselblad. During my trip East, without really knowing when or how, I became a photographer “.
Didier Brousse
Max Pam was born in 1949 in Melbourne, Australia. As a teenager, he grew up in a post-war Melbourne suburbs, he felt as “oppressive” and culturally isolated. He then discovered a passion for surfing and the images of National Geographic and Surfer Magazine give birth in him to the desire to travel abroad. He left Australia at age 20 to follow an astrophysicist as assistant photographer. Together they traveled from Calcutta to London. This experience was very inspiring for him: the trips remain crucial in his thinking and creative and personal approach. He returned to live in Australia in 1985 in Perth, where he teaches at the (Edith Cowan University) and continue to photograph. He exhibits in Australia, Europe, Japan, the United States.
To travel with Max Pam, to travel in his photos, is to accept the fantasy, the provocation, the freedom to look at a world that is not always “politically correct”. Max lets his eternal adolescent eye float on this world, which has gone on the roads in the pursuit of the dream of the sixties. Of course, he meets children who make weapons and frequent hostess bars in Bangkok: his photos show them and his words tell them, but he does not call out the depravities of the world, he addresses all situations with empathy and optimism, he shows us humanity and life, Nevertheless …
Max Pam / Michael Ackerman / Paolo Roversi : “Going East”
February 12 to April 3, 2021
Galerie Camera Obscura
268, boulevard Raspail 75014 Paris
