From Amazon
In their previous collaboration Lights Out for the Territory, Marc Atkins's few dark, brooding photographs focused writer Iain Sinclair's dense, impressionistic formulations about London, the city he loves to drift through. Here Atkins's penetrating black-and-white portraits and his beautiful, troubling shots of a London we forget we know dominate. Sinclair contributes essays in a lighter, more journalistic prose than readers of his wonderful, overwrought novels might expect. In them he discusses Atkins, or one of his photographs, and their mutual project of attempting to pin down London's story. And he writes about other writers (Peter Ackroyd, Michael Moorcock, John Healy) who share his fascination with one of the world's great cities. As the title of their book suggests, it is nearly impossible to articulate absolute truths about a space as dynamic as this city, and equally difficult to hold a fixed position on it. Despite that (Sinclair praises his friend for creating flux whereas his writing tries to "mould wriggling chaos"), the pair's project is worthwhile, as it has produced words and some remarkable pictures that only such a troubled engagement could create. This is a visual feast of contemporary photojournalism, in which Atkins's visions and Sinclair's words help the reader perceive a London that can easily be walked past daily without a second glance. --Mark Thwaite, Amazon.co.uk
From Library Journal
Freelance photographer Atkins and Sinclair, author of Downriver and Radon Daughters, portray, through words and photographs, a London few visitors would ever want to see. This is a dark, downtrodden, dirty, and damp London of canals, riverside factories, cemetery monuments, and people who match the scenery. The textAshort essays, poems, and conversationsAis less about the places photographed than about the various people Atkins and Sinclair met on their rambles on the fringes of the city. The photographs, all black-and-white, are only occasionally interesting and provocative, and the fragmented narrative wanders. For comprehensive photography collections only.ALinda M. Kaufmann, Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts Lib., North Adams
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
stunning photographs ... Atkins's use of eye, paper and chemicals is an alchemical homage to the mystery of light and dark' - Jah Wobble, Independent on Sunday Liquid City is ... Alice in Wonderland for urban intellectuals, a book that just gets curiouser and curiouser. Which is what makes it so particular, of course, and so utterly alluring.' - Melanie McGrath, London Evening Standard In their previous collaboration Lights Out For The Territory Marc Atkins' few dark, brooding photographs added focus to Iain Sinclair's dense, impressionistic, psychogeographical formulations about the city in which he loves to drift. Here Atkins' penetrating black and white portraits and his beautiful, troubling shots of a London we forget we know dominate. Sinclair adds occasional pieces in a lighter, more journalistic prose than readers of his wonderful, overwrought novels might expect, discussing Atkins, or one of his photographs, and their mutual project of attempting to pin down the story that is London. And he writes about other scribes (Peter Ackroyd, Michael Moorcock, John Healy) who share his fascination with one of the world's great cities. This attempt to articulate a truth about a space is an impossible project, and it is impossible to hold a fixed position on it - as the title Liquid City suggests. Sinclair and Atkins know this (Sinclair praises his friend for creating flux whereas his writing tries to "mould wriggling chaos") but the project proves worthwhile as it has produced words and some remarkable pictures that only such a troubled engagement could engender. This is a visual feast of contemporary photojournalism, in which Atkins' visions and Sinclair's words help the reader perceive a London that can easily be walked past daily -- Mark Thwaite The London landscape that Atkins and Sinclair conjure up is a haunted one, and I suspect their imagery will continue to haunt readers long after they close this book. I have no doubt that this will become accepted as one of the most essential texts for anyone who cares for London. -- Joe Kerr Blueprint Magazine
Book Description
The eccentric, manic, often moving collaborative explorations of London's hidden streets, cemeteries, parks and canals by photographer Marc Atkins and writer Iain Sinclair were first recorded in Sinclair's highly acclaimed 1997 book Lights Out for the Territory, praised in the Guardian as "one of the most remarkable books ever written on London". Liquid City documents Atkins and Sinclair's further peregrinations, focusing on the city's eastern and south-eastern quadrants. An array of famous and lesser-known writers, booksellers and film-makers slip in and out of Sinclair's annotations, as do memories and remnants of the East End's criminal mobs. The title Liquid City is meant to evoke the Thames, which flows silently through the photographic and textual narrative, and to suggest the changes London has undergone and, like all cities, is constantly undergoing.
About the Author
Marc Atkins is a freelance photographer. He has exhibited across Europe and North America, and his images have been published in books and magazines world-wide.Iain Sinclair is the author of many books, including Downriver; Radon Daughters; White Chapagesell, Scarlet Tracings and Lights Out for the Territory.
