#96 CAMERA book review: Philip Jones Griffiths - Dark Odyssey

A look through the wonderful work of Phillip Jones Griffiths in his beautiful book DARK ODYSSEY.

Philip Jones Griffiths' Dark Odyssey was published by Aperture in 1996 to accompany a major retrospective exhibition at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. Rather than concentrating on a single conflict or country, the book brings together photographs made over four decades in more than one hundred countries, tracing Griffiths' career from the 1950s to the 1990s. Edited and sequenced by the photographer himself, it combines 180 black and white photographs with his own commentaries and an introductory essay by Murray Sayle. While Vietnam Inc. established Griffiths' international reputation, Dark Odyssey demonstrates the breadth of his documentary practice, bringing together work from Vietnam, Algeria, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Kuwait, Bosnia, Rhodesia, Papua New Guinea, Wales and many other parts of the world into a single photographic narrative.

Rather than functioning as a conventional retrospective, Dark Odyssey reveals the consistency of Griffiths' political and photographic concerns across very different subjects. His photographs examine the effects of war, colonialism, environmental destruction, poverty and political power while also documenting the everyday lives of the people most affected by these forces. Griffiths used extended captions and personal commentary to place individual photographs within their wider historical context, arguing that documentary photography should encourage critical engagement rather than simply record events. The book remains one of the most comprehensive statements of his career, demonstrating how a lifetime of international reportage was united by a sustained interest in the relationship between power, technology and humanity.

Publisher: Aperture Foundation (1996)
Package Dimensions: 32.8 x 23.8 x 1.8 cm

Phillip Jones Griffiths
Aperture Foundation

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