Grant Hatfield

Sigh Of The Times

40 pg. 

Full color photo zine.
Digital Offset
6” x 9”
Edition of 300
Deadbeat Club #67

It’s indeed a sign of our times that most of us can barely summon a sigh in response to the constant absurdity of plain old daily life. But in “Sigh of the Times,” Grant Hatfield slyly subverts easy cynicism with pictures that are not “about” anything in particular, but which yet manage to be both sweet and soulful. Hatfield doesn’t use the camera to search for meaning in the world; instead he creates meaning with an astute use of vibrant color and pattern (and of texture and light in the handful of black-and-white photographs). Equally important are the pairings of pictures, in which the congruities and contradictions of southern California add up to something more than the sum of their parts. In the end, Hatfield’s evident love for the wonders of the perceived world make this sigh clearly one of affection.