Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison: The Architect's Brother

by Robert ParkeHarrison (Photographer)

diCorcia’s curation of “disparate photographs,” from his early career to his first solo shows "I want to make images that have open, narrative qualities, enough to suggest ideas about human limits. I want there to be a combination of the past juxtaposed with the modern. I use nature to symbolize the search, saving a tree, watering the earth. In this fabricated world, strange clouds of smog float by; there are holes in the sky. These mythic images mirror our world, where nature is domesticated, controlled and destroyed. Through my work I explore technology and a poetry of existence. These can be very heavy, overly didactic issues to convey in art, so I choose to portray them through a more theatrically absurd approach." ―Robert ParkeHarrison (born 1968)

Genres: Art, Photography

136 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 2000

About the author

Robert ParkeHarrison (born 1968) is a photographer, best known for his work (with wife Shana ParkeHarrison) in the area of fine art photography.

The photographs of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison have been displayed in 18 solo exhibitions and over 30 group shows worldwide. Their work can also be found in over 20 collections, including the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution and the George Eastman House.

Their book, The Architect’s Brother was named as one of 'the Ten Best Photography Books of the Year' of 2000 by the New York Times

Reviews

[Jordan West · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5; if you've ever watched Eraserhead and wondered what might lay outside the film's monstrous industrial metropolis, the besuited figure in the photographs here could very well be Henry's country cousin as he haplessly wanders the wasteland performing acts of ecological maintenance; equally suggestive of artists such as Stephen Gammell or Odd Nerdrum and the aural landscapes Tom Waits created in such albums as Bone Machine, Mule Variations and Real Gone, these pictures of a broken world successfully capture a mournful otherworldliness, although occasionally weakened by a strain of mawkish didacticism.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine a post-apocalyptic world, where one remaining man becomes the earth’s caretaker. Always dressed in the same ill-fitting suit, he pollinates barren fields and makes rain. He constructs crude machines to help the earth breathe, create wind and generate light. Each Sisyphean task is captured in these beautifully haunting photographs.

[Ray Nessly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The credit should actually read Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison (not just Robert.).
Purchased/read in 2014, reread a few times since. Catalogue for exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts.
I've shared the couple's surreal and beautiful photographic images on Facebook many times over the years. Their website: https://parkeharrison.com/

A few sample images. They probably won't be visible on the GR app though, just the site.

Earth Elegies



The Sower


[edit: Tried several times, copied from a few different sources, but the share script didn't work for the second image. I guess I'm lucky I got one. Thanks ever, GR, for making things more time-consuming than they really ought to be.]

[Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a minute there I thought I was going to have to wrestle the librarian for my interlibrary loan book. I hope she's at work when I return it.

[Aeryn (WildMoonChild) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this to look at after I did a research project, and I gotta say, it was worth it to see physical printed versions of the photos as opposed to just looking at them on my computer 😍 I wanna reread the story at the back, because I think it went over my head from how tired I am, but some of the lines were so vividly explained, and I honestly loved it

[Rhianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection from an incredibly underrated photographer. The composition and unique style depicts fascinating scenes entirely unique to ParkeHarrison's vision.

[bookyeti · Rating 5 out of 5]

As beautiful as it is poignant! They say a picture is worth a thousand words...this book proves that proverb true, without a doubt. By far my most favorite photography book that takes my breath away every time I open its cover.

[nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soo great.

[Petalbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly the best book in modern photography.

[Julia Luckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book filled with imaginative and poetic photography.