To accompany the exhibition, Betty & Dupree will be publishing a collection of these photographs, also titled Midwest. The book also includes a foreword by acclaimed Minnesotan blues musician Charlie Parr and watercolour chapter pages by Jerwood Drawing Prize nominated artist Aaron Sewards.
In August 2010, Tom travelled around the American Midwest for three weeks with his band My Two Toms playing as many inappropriate venues as possible. During the tour he attempted to photograph everyone he met, as well as the places he passed through. Looking for odd details in the landscape, his colour photographs tell the story of the small towns of Montana, Minnesota, North & South Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming, while his black & white portraits tell us about the people that live there.
"Tom led the people outside, one by one, to take a photo. He stopped them all; middle-aged bartenders, tourists, punk rockers, hippies, very old and very young, me, my mom, my daughter, my wife, my son, all of us got stopped in time by Tom’s camera, a kind of living graveyard." – Charlie Parr
The exhibition will take place at the Here Gallery in Bristol, UK.
108 Stokes Croft, BS1 3RU.
Preview; Thursday 27th October, 7.00 - 9.00pm.
The exhibition continues until 19th November, and also coincides with a two night residency from Charlie Parr at nearby Cube Microplex on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th November.
www.tomcops.com
