September 2008
Photography: Anna Mitchell
Texts: Mark C. Hewitt
Street interventions: Standard 8
Inspired by the wonderful collection of images of people reading taken by Hungarian photographer André Kertész, this Blank Productions collaborative project sought to combine photographs taken on the streets of Reading by artist/photographer, Anna Mitchell with texts by MCH drawn largely from interviews with readers that aimed to reveal the way individuals use reading to mediate and position themselves in the world. Linked to the National Year of Reading and the Reading Festival of Crime Writing the project took on a deliberately noirish bent in its celebration of the creativity and anthropological curiosity of the act of reading and the way in which, in a busy town centre, it brings together public and private worlds.
The resulting photographic images and texts were presented as a scattered public art installation in over forty locations in Reading town centre accompanied by an exhibition of prints and text at Reading Central Library
Street installation developed in collaboration with Standard 8, specialists in exhibiting outdoor artwork. Project funded by Awards for All Big Lottery Fund, Arts Council England South East and Reading Borough Council.
Photo © Anna Mitchell, 2008