ZZYZXThe early settlers dubbed California The Golden State and The Land of Milk and Honey. Today there are the obvious ironies sprawl, spaghetti junctions and skid row but the place is not so easily distilled or visualised, either as a clichd paradise or as its demise. Theres a strange kind of harmony when its all seen together the sublime, the psychedelic, the self destructive. Like all places, its unpredictable and contradictory, but to greater extremes.

the traditional anti-halation rem-jet layer has been removed from this film

accompanied by writer Sala Patterson

By masterfully harnessing the malleability of the photographic medium

A unique and instructive contribution to the literature on photography

Halpern’s mesmerizing sequence unfurls as a stage across which distinct and unpredictable characters appear in and amongst solitary buildings

discipline and creative flair

an acrobatic cat lunging after a bird

Valerie Maynard

The looming forms defy easy categorisation and disconcerting cyphers periodically emerge from a lingering dusk

resistance

The book also includes an introductory text by Kai Carlson-Wee and an original poem by Guggenheim-award winning writer Janice Harrington

Gary Schneider