Exhibition until the 30th March 2008 @ Arnolfini, Bristol

This feeling of melancholy is also apparent within Bill Owens’ ‘Suburbia Revisited’ as it displays a social documentary of optimistic home-owners striving for their American Dreams.  The exhibition takes pictures from Owens earlier work – ‘Suburbia’ (1973), ‘Working (I’ll do it for the money)’ (1977). ‘Suburbia’ includes photos of families, groups of people, couples or individuals from East Bay and San Francisco in front of their houses, placing down lawn, ready to leave for a holiday, meetings held at houses, and various domestic situations that we can all relate to.

‘Working (I’ll do if for the money)’ depicts individuals in their working spheres, such as dinner ladies, foot doctors and various other occupations. Along with these photographs, Owens has displayed other works, such as ‘Riots’, depicting particular moments from Hell’s Angels and protests against the Vietnam war. Acting as names for the pictures, Owens uses a quote from the individual photograph, cleverly depicting how the person felt at the time. Every photograph tells a different story and his craftsmanship draws you into situation as if you were there at the time.

Forty years on, Owens has revisited the sites of Suburbia he once documented, drawing comparisons between then and now. One would think that there would be major contrasts between the photographs; however it is apparent that the lives of these people are still similar and if anything they continue to dwell in materialism and strive for the American Dream.

www.arnolfini.org.uk

Selina Orrell