The starting point for this exhibition was my photobook NYC–19XX, published by Out of Place Books. I had visited New York in the mid-1990s and taken photographs of the city’s streets, shops and features. Paul Sampson, the curator and director of Oriel Colwyn, had seen this work as well as additional pictures of New York. Sampson linked my NYC pictures to the 2024 Presidential election, and made the connection between the US in the present and my photographs of a US of the past. To reinforce the connection, the exhibition closed on the 5th November – Election Day in the US – the date on which the election outcome would still remain unknown.

On the closing night there was an event at the gallery in which I spoke about my photozines and associated projects. My guest and close friend, Bill Poschman, joined the conversation via video link from a suburb of San Francisco, to discuss politics in the USA. 

The title for the exhibition, Stars, Stripes and Steam, refers to American nationalism in relation to the Stars and Stripes of the United States flag; the steam rising from underground vents can be read as the steam or hot air of political rhetoric. 

Paul Sampson created a virtual reality version of the gallery space for the Oriel Colwyn website; I wrote an article for Offline Journal (in print); and Mike Pinnington reviewed the exhibition for The Double Negative online magazine. The completion of this project was the publication of the New York 1995–1996 by Café Royal Books.

Stars, Stripes and Steam
20 September–5 November 2024
Oriel Colwyn, Colywn Bay, North Wales.