Artist reveals context of famous landmarks in 'wrong way' photo series
Plenty of photographers have snapped shots of the Mona Lisa. But does anyone know the painting across the hall?
Artist Oliver Curtis is challenging the typical tourist shot with his photo series Volte-face, featuring the scenes on the other side of historical landmarks.
For each photo, Curtis turns his camera in the opposite direction of tourists' cameras. This often exposes the landmark's context: how it's run, who works there, what the weather was like that day.
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"After walking around the base of the tomb I found myself looking back out in the direction I had arrived from, with the pyramid behind me," Curtis said of his first trip to Giza, Egypt, home of the famous pyramids.
"In the mid-distance I saw a newly constructed golf course, its fairways an intense green under the late morning sun," he continued. "I found this visual sandwich of contrasting colour, texture and form intriguing not simply for the photograph it made but also because of the oddness of my position: standing at one of the great wonders of the world facing the ‘wrong’ way."
Volte-face will run this fall at London's Royal Geographical Society.
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Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.
