Michael Ormerod

The Palmist - Street photography, America, 20th Century, Robert Frank, Surreal

c. 1989

Edition of 10. Black & White print on Hahnemuehle Paper. The body of work, States of America, is the photographic legacy of one of the UK’s leading photographic talents whose untimely death in 1991 ended prematurely the highly promising career of a distinctive and powerful photographic voice. Michael Ormerod was born in Cheshire in 1947. He lived in Newcastle, but spent many years travelling America. Fascinated by the American image, and following in the footsteps of Robert Frank, Ormerod took to the American West to find a washed out dream of capitalism. His images capture a strange juxtaposition of an American beauty tainted by a hidden sense of menace and corruption. The photographs are understated, but show an unseen America, where the industrial heartland is decaying, highways stand empty and towns are deserted. The subjects of Ormerod’s work are the disenfranchised. A teenager cycles through her neighbourhood wearing a Halloween-style hockey mask, a Native American man stands in a graveyard, their expressions are unreadable. The work subverts traditional American icons. A white picket fence is staved in, a huge billboard for Miss Teen Dakota USA stands next to an empty highway. Inverting the famous Hollywood sign, Ormerod photographs a Texaco sign...

Please bear in mind that all prints are produced to order. Lead times are expected between 15-20 days. Image size: 14.5 x 14.5" Sheet size: 17 x 24" "Wall of Fame, Nashville Tennessee...

'Synthesis' Limited Edition Black and White Archival Photograph. Unframed _________________ The wild Atlantic explodes in a raw release of energy, blurring the boundary between ocea...

The artwork is a part of the Somewhere to Swim Panel. About the "Somewhere to Swim" project: By eliminating people from her photographs, her unnerving images tell the story of a li...