The ground from which such strange fruits grow..

Altered States of Agoraphobia, A review by Philip Heying. 

"The image remains stable in its representation, but myself, as its viewer and author, is in a state of continuous flux across time and it is this feedback which informs my present self of itself in its ever changing state."

Simon Kossoff is a card carrying Resident Alien of the United States of America. He was born and grew up in Britain, lived in Norway and Spain, traveled widely, then moved to the US in 2008, where he has resided, and prolifically photographed, since. He brings the unique observational skillset that foreign born residents, like Alexis de Tocqueville and Robert Frank, apply to this raucous nation and culture. The work in his recently published book, Altered States of Agoraphobia is a significant contribution and advancement in this essential tradition of immigrants reflecting on the state of the American experiment.

It drives me a little crazy that I can’t quite remember how I discovered his photography on Flickr, back around 2010. Did some acutely informed friend recommend it to me? Did The Algorithm, for once, work as advertised and direct me to it? I can’t quite remember. But I’ll never forget the shock of recognition I felt when seeing his pictures.

A short time after I first found his Flickr gallery, I met him in person. Our shared affinity and affection for William Burroughs’s writing and life, and the Beat Generation in general, brought us into a friendship that has endured now for a decade. Throughout that decade I have often thought: man, I would love to see a fully produced book of his photography. Now, finally, that book has arrived.

Alongside his outsider’s perspective on American culture, Kossoff brings an exceptionally informed, innovative and innately talented pictorial formalism to photographing the geography, people, rituals, architecture, playthings and detritus found across this continent. This is the first thing that left a deep impression on me: His pictures are wild.

His life is as adventuresome, some would say dangerous, as his pictures. Honestly, there have been times when I’ve been worried about his well-being. But he has kept it together, - not without some injury, tough spots, and the kind of thing it’s best not to publicly disclose, - but now he’s solid and settled enough to have completed this book.

He apparently never stopped moving while making it, and has traveled through veins, capillaries and roots sitting directly atop the bedrock that the United States of America erupts from. The formal vocabulary he has developed and employed for making his pictures seems to be a perfect solution to the puzzle this country presents and represents. The pictures are entirely convincing - a casual viewer might imagine there’s no other way to depict their subjects. But his formal rigor is his own, developed through a lifetime’s study of the broad scope of the history of picture making, literature and music and then filtering that knowledge through his experience according to his tools at hand.

Though he’s an “outsider” - a “Resident Alien,” he has managed to do what most aspiring photographers never accomplish: he has gotten inside, and stared into it deeply, without flinching. Most photographers rely on autobiography, or some kind of journalistic credentials to create photographs behind walls - or, many photographers are plenty happy to drive by, walk through or look down on their subjects. Simon has gone deeply into the most personal revelation of life in America, as a participant, and he has done it without the slightest trace of autobiographical solipsism. We see infants (one of them taking aim with an assault rifle), lovers, bathrooms (is that real blood on the walls?), drugs, piles of $100 bills, hospital patients, an extraordinary closeup of a blister being pierced with a needle, a child carving a pumpkin slasher style with a knife that looks like it could find its way into an evidence locker, the kitchen sink… all with a startling, saturated intimacy. But Simon holds his personal cards pretty close. This isn’t a personal memoir so much as a forensic observation. This is what’s happening. There aren’t easy answers, nor an obvious escape hatch. It’s mysterious.

And so, depending on how you approach the work as it is reproduced in the book, its meaning shifts, rearranges like the chips in a kaleidoscope. Which is not to say the meaning is ambiguous or any less potent. The pictures are gripping. In total, they form powerful evidence for a reality that we construct through the drive of our consciousness. This is both an empowering and damning conclusion. When he is photographing in public spaces, the pictures consistently convey a psychic intimacy. They do this through potent visual metaphor, with colors that evoke specific mental or emotional conditions, shapes that reflect symbols systems, from Christianity to Tarot cards, from Buddhism to psychoanalytic iconography, from the technology of science fiction to the fundamental imagery of Paleolithic pictographs and petroglyphs, and relationships of form that convey the visceral experience of dance and music. Outside and inside fold in on each other, both in a literal sense and symbolically.

This is the magma that erupts with uniquely American character into events like the election of Donald J. Trump to the office of the Presidency, a nation with a healthcare system that’s an extortion racket, frivolous and barbaric military interventions, an opiate abuse crisis, constant racial strife, egregious gender disparity and, looming large over all of it, an environmental catastrophe with potentially apocalyptic consequences. Simon’s pictures forensically depict the ground from which such strange fruits grow.

This might be unbearably grim except for his remarkable capacity to find astonishing beauty, amazement, humor, human resilience and compassion right alongside disaster. Simon holds contradiction with the equanimity of a philosopher. This, ultimately, is the great achievement of his work. It depicts the fact of redemption and provides irrefutable proof that it courses through our lives constantly.

The book itself is beautifully produced. The printing, binding and packaging are exceptionally well crafted. The edit provides a compelling overview of his sprawling vision. It feels very good in your hand and is substantial. Beyond that, it also will likely leave you wanting more, and suggests possibilities for deeper, more specific edits that will more fully exploit Simon’s expertise in evocative sequencing and juxtaposition. Likewise, the design leans more toward large spectacular spreads that can compromise a viewer’s ability to take in the extraordinary rigor and inventiveness of his formalism. You’ll want to save space on the shelf beside it for sequels. This is a stunning introduction to his work that calls for deeper consideration. Fortunately, he has also produced some less elaborate zines that feel more personal. He also regularly writes for his blog, and his prose is as strong as his photography. In sum, this book suggests an essential breakout that will hopefully lead to further publication with more incisive purpose. Hopefully that’ll be coming soon.

Philip Heying

Matfield Green, Kansas

23 August 2022