Omen

Chasing the ghost, the traces of oblivion, and the echoes of what was and no longer is, the book "Omen" is a revision and reframing of a fraction of the photographic archive of the Farm Security Administration (1935-1944), hosted at the NewYork Public Library.That program was one of the milestones of modern documentary photography, instrumental in constructing a hegemonic narrative; one mainly about triumph against adversity, division, and catastrophe in the recent history of the United States. But by gazing over that monumental set of images; by scrutinizing the corners of the pictures, the backgrounds and details; by examining the secondary characters; in what should not be there and what appears by chance, accident or error, it is possible to discover a different narrative, one that is thicker, murkier, more troubled, complex, contemporary and contradictory. Both a shatter and an apex: a premonition of the genealogical continuity of the many (tumultuous, visible, and invisible, thunderous, and silent) systemic violences that make up the face of American society. A book that serves as a mirror for the distressing reality of the United States these days, and, at the same time, as a device for reflection on the way historical and documentary photography is read and understood.