shashasha

Photographed in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Maryland, Curran Hatleberg’s photobook “River’s Dream” leaves an impression of sultry heat, wet air, skin caked with layers of sweat, and dampness. Hatleberg’s images pulsate through episodes of a long summer’s dream, show us characters, locations and scenes that, while grounded in reality, appear innocuously exaggerated. Each portrait and snapshot tells its own story yet becomes part of a greater narration.
The book ends with two long texts by Natasha Trethewey and Joy Williams.

“And what is the program? It is forgotten without ever being quite remembered. Lives can be lived without practice, without involvement or necessity. This is what Hatleberg’s patient eye discloses. Our celebrations have become obscure, our works enervated, our habitations derelict.”
― from Joy Williams’ essay “Photographs of Curran Hatleberg”