
This week’s pick is Higley, chosen by one of the newest Photo-Eye staff members, Ben Lerman.
“Prior to working here I got my BFA in photography at The California College of Arts and Crafts where I studied under LARRY SULTAN, TODD HIDO, Chris Johnson and Magnum photographer JIM GOLDBERG, amongst others. After about a month of being at photo-eye I have chosen Higley, the fifth publication by Andrew Phelps, as my first staff pick.
Under the pretense that ‘Globalization is too big to take a picture of,’ photographer Andrew Phelps returns to his hometown, Higley, where he finds it to be a microcosmic example of the global phenomenon. Higley is a metaphor for what is happening on the edge of every major city in the American west, farming towns being assimilated by their metropolitan neighbors. In this book Phelps has been able to not only examine a city rushing to lose a history that scarcely existed, but also to confront his family’s roots, a narrative that mimics the transformation of the town itself. Photographed over three years, this body of 81 color images culminated at the same time Higley lost its name in an amalgamation with Phoenix, Arizona.”
—Ben Lerman
Photo-Eye