September 2008
Photography: Anna Mitchell
Texts: Mark C. Hewitt
Street interventions: Standard 8
Inspired initially 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 contemporary streets in Reading, Berkshire, by artist/photographer, Anna Mitchell with texts by Mark C. Hewitt drawn largely from interviews with the town's readers, aimed at revealing the way individuals use the act of reading to creatively understand, explore, mediate and justify their values and place 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, strange beauty 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.
See the photo gallery:
• Caught in the act - Reading reading (street installation)
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.
