The Pillar

by Stephen Gill (Photographer), Karl Ove Knausgård (Contributor)

A pillar knocked into the ground next to a stream in a flat, open landscape, trees and houses visible in the distance, beneath a vast sky. That is the backdrop to all of Stephen Gill's photographs in this book. We see the same landscape in spring and summer, in autumn and winter, we see it in sunshine and rain, in snow and wind. Yet there is not the slightest monotony about these pictures, for in almost every one there is a bird, and each of these birds opens up a unique moment in time. We see something that has never happened before and will never happen again. That it takes place in the midst of a landscape characterised by repetition, in which time is cyclical, sets up a keen existential dynamic: on the one hand, everything has happened before, there’s nothing new under the sun; on the other, every moment is unique and carries the hallmark of the miracle: what happens happens only once and never again.

But this wasn’t what I thought about the first time I looked at these photographs. In fact, I barely thought at all, for I was shaken, as a person so often is when confronted with an extraordinary work of art. I’d never seen birds in this way before, as if on their own terms, as independent creatures with independent lives. Ancient, forever improvising, endlessly embroiled with the forces of nature, and yet indulging too. And so infinitely alien to us.
— Karl Ove Knausgård

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2019

About the author

Stephen Gill’s passion for photography was sparked by his father’s quiet influence and fuelled by an early fascination with insects, birdlife, and the tiny pond creatures he’d gather to examine under a microscope. Music, too, has long been a steady companion. Together, these early obsessions nurtured a sense of wonder, and image-making became not only a way of exploring such curiosities, but a means of responding to his surroundings and to the subjects that intrigue or move him. Over time, it has become an essential form of articulation and expression.

As the years have passed, Gill’s relationship with photography has continued to evolve. While he values photography’s strengths, he remains increasingly aware of its limits, how straight descriptive photographs are often unable to convey more elusive emotions, feelings, or ideas that lie beyond the glass wall of clarity, projection and control. He works outside those limits, developing a quiet trust in chance and what can be withheld. In reducing information, he often finds that something vital — a presence, a spirit — can remain, allowing the subject to breathe without interference.

Gill continues to explore the idea that even the most abstract or ambiguous images can carry a truth, sometimes more illuminating than clear visual description, however factual it may appear. In a time when images flood every corner of life and certainty feels harder to hold, he chooses to relinquish much of the authorship and control, seeking instead to honour his subjects by handing much of the authorship back to them. He is often drawn to finding ways to collaborate with his subjects or to assist them to fully speak for themselves, without the images being suffocated by the medium or the maker.

Reviews

[lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eenvoudige ideeën zijn het beste. Stephen Gill sloeg een houten paal midden in een stuk weiland en plaatste er een bewegingssensor camera tegenover. Over een periode van vier jaar fotografeerde deze camera vervolgens alle vogels die op de paal waren geland. Een verbluffend simpel concept met een magnifiek resultaat. Bekijk een mooi gesprek met Gill hierover.

[Zander Engelke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most interesting typography book ever made. Speaks a lot to the exploration of the camera as its own entity, with the ability to make work on its own. In a strange way, it reminds me of modular synthesis, how the system itself does the exploration while the "controller" is merely an observer, there to ensure that the system's musings are found by others.

[Kent Winward · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essay of Karl Ove Knausgård is the perfect supplement to the collection of photographs of mostly birds landing on a lone pillar on a Swedish farm.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am pretty sure I found this book through a Tumblr aesthetic post. Lovely photographs and text.

Also super weird to have read it the day before pandemic lockdown began, and then to return to my office in late August and find it still there waiting for me.

[Niels K · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating: 9,0