‘The Makeshift City’ by Joshua Dudley Greer is out now at GOST Books.
The city of Atlanta in the US has endured constant change throughout its history. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over, survived slavery and racial segregation to become the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, and recently recast the state of Georgia as a blue wave in a sea of neighbouring red states. The Makeshift City by Joshua Dudley Greer shows a contemporary Atlanta in a state of flux—both a unique city with a specific history and culture, and a generic American metropolis struggling to forge its identity.
The photographs in the book were made between 2020-2024—a period which encompassed the seismic events of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise to prominence of Black Lives Matter, struggles for abortion rights, increased income inequality and the Stop Copy City movement. This backdrop provided the motivation for Greer to witness certain economic and political forces as they manifested themselves in the landscape, architecture and community in one of the largest and most progressive cities in the American South. Although the structure of the city changed dramatically during this period, the systems which governed it often remained immutable, constrained by capital interests and the two political parties see-sawing for power.
I watched people go about their daily lives in spite of everything that might act against them. There were times of resilience, activism, selflessness, and joy. But there were also moments of banality, privilege and ignorance, even disdain. I’ve tried to make photographs that acknowledge the totality of experience that may beset one particular place during one particular time. Of course, I know I am unable to do this. There is so much about Atlanta that I don’t understand, and perhaps, probably, never will.’
Joshua Dudley Greer : The Makeshift City
GOST Books
290 x 260 mm portrait,
144pp, 69 images
Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-915423-58-0
£60 | €70 | $75
www.gostbooks.com
