"Lots of young photographers are logging some serious miles for their craft. Case in point: Ben Pobjoy."
Urban Outfitters Blog 04/21/2008
"The photographs are both documents and revelations, capturing the remarkable people and places that criss crossed his [Pobjoy's] path, often from the bus window, and exploring the fine line between everymand and icon that is inherently American."
Montreal Mirror 03/07/2008
"You should stop in when you have a chance and see all the shots he [Pobjoy] took on his recent 7,000-mile bus trip across the US and Mexico."
Vice Magazine Blog 07/072008
Installation History
2008 - Ran Friday, July 4th to Friday, July 11th at the Emporium Gallery in Montreal, Canada / www.theemporiumgallery.com
Virtual History
2008 - Ran March 2008 on Melbourne, Australia's NowNow Gallery / website
About Land of America: the Photo Installation
In June 2007, Ben Pobjoy traveled across 7000 miles of America and Mexico on a nonstop bus ride from Montreal to Los Angeles- and back. Land of America is the photographic outcome of this journey. Featuring over 150 photographs and supplemented by a memoir of the same name, Land of America is a candid examination of both bus travel and America itself.
About Land of America: the Book
A written supplement to the Land of America photo installation, Land of America: the book is both a written memoir of the journey and a photographic portrait of contemporary American life. The book is 228 pages long; it features a text that is 54,000 words in length and over 150 captioned photographs from the photo installation of the same name. Acerbic yet insightful, Land of America: the Book details the ups, down and peculiarities of Pobjoy's trek across America.
Artist Statement
"What began as a fairly straightforward plan to trek across America to passively observe bus stations and bus riders evolved into a journey that was far more complex, challenging and profound than I could have ever imagined. While I had intended to document mass transit hubs and the peculiar people that pass through them, which I did, I was ultimately subjected to, and confronted by, the spectrum that is America. The bus, it turned out, navigated more than the roads of America; it navigated the veins of a body that was inarguably at odds with itself. Land of America is the outcome of this trek. If I can achieve just one thing with this photo installation, it would be the authentic communication of the intensity that I experienced when hurled, at a near breakneck speed, through the veins of America. If viewers are not dizzied by the concentrated barrage of Land of America's images than I have failed to convey the totality of my experience."
Artist Biography (abbreviated version)
Ben Pobjoy (b. 1981, Canada) is a Montreal-based photographer. Known for his candid and often raw approach to photography, Pobjoy has long been in interested in capturing the essence and idiosyncrasies of various people, places and things. His work has been featured globally in magazines and album layouts and is currently represented in numerous private and corporate collections. Pobjoy's work has been exhibited in Montreal and Toronto; he is represented in the Montreal area by the Emporium Gallery.
Virtual Evite (JPEG)
Download here