NIALL O’BRIEN – THREE CITIES
2018-04-23‘Three Cities’ explores Santa Clara’s ‘Silicon Valley’ through a series of intuitive landscapes and portraits, shot in and around the county’s seven-mile long Bascom Avenue.
During his time there, O’Brien was struck by the banality of a place that prides itself on being a world leader in innovation. Although no stranger to the US and its economic landscape, he was affected by the enormous inequality that exists amongst Bascom’s residents – some of America’s wealthiest and most impoverished, living side by side.
Despite this he found moments of remarkable beauty in and around the valley, over his many visits to the area. He also found beauty in the people that inhabit Bascom Avenue. Blake, a homeless man, and his girlfriend Dana became incredibly important to O’Brien, who began to see the world from their point of view.
The photographer’s naturalistic and voyeuristic imagery is the result of a very personal process, which has historically seen him embed himself within ‘tribes’, whether they be young punks in the suburbs of London and Berlin, or the isolationist communities of conservative middle-America. Here he was drawn specifically to Blake and Dana’s stories and their surroundings – spending months getting to know them and their routines, documenting their turmoil and their triumphs, as well as the streets that they call home.
Exhibition runs from April 27th – May 26th, 2018
Sid Motion
142 York Way
London
N1 0AX
