Jem Southam was born in 1950 in Bristol and studied at the London College of Printing. He is currently a Professor at the School of Art and Media, Plymouth University. He has published 8 books of work one of which I have been asked to look at 'The Red River'  Jem Southam with additional texts by D.M.Thomas, Frank Turk and Jan Ruhrmund.
Published by Cornerhouse 1989.

The idea was a sequence of 50 photographs that follow a small stream in the West of Cornwall from its source to the sea. The work began as a series of topographic views and this then developed into a much deeper project showing the surface of the land, the houses and animals in the area, the tourism and mining, all aspects of the human condition that affect the landscape.

This documentary approach to the landscape is different to my ideas about landscape photography. I see documentary work to be work that involves people and their interaction with the environment and for people to feature strongly in the picture. The people do not feature in this work however their impact does. An interesting approach.

The style of the work although well thought out is not to my taste and the care that a photographer such as ‘Joe Cornish’ shows is not in evidence here - poor lighting and composition is allowed because the story they are telling is more important. Above we can see a poorly lit rabbit entitled ‘Rabbit, Troon Zoo, Newton Moor,1982-1989.’ Below ‘Mine Engine House, the Great Flat Lode, Newton Moor, 1982-1989. I would not be using half of these images as they look so poorly executed to me, although they are truthful. They are not images that I consider to be landscapes but documentary images.

Above, ‘The Red River, Reskadinnick, 1982-1989’

However that is not to say that I have not seen a different way of using photography in this work, I just think that it will require ‘visually literate people’ to understand the work. The vast majority of people expect and many commercial photographers try to show the landscape in the ‘best light possible’ myself included. People may well struggle with this work to see the story behind the imagery.

Bibliography-

http://www.landscapestories.net/issue-12/ls_12-001-jem-southam-the-red-river?lang=en