ED AND DEANNA TEMPLETON – CONTEMPORARY SUBURBIUM

Ed and Deanna TEMPLETON
CONTEMPORARY SUBURBIUM

Published by Nazraeli press, 2017
Book size 15.2 × 20.3 cm
86 two-tone boards
Hardcover with a slipcase, accordion bound
ISBN 978-1-59005-478-9

“We were born into this situation, and made the best of what we were dealt, thriving on the sidewalks and front yards and hidden from the influence of the city until the city poured over the castle walls out into the surrounding suburbium that grew like barnacles along the edges… (Ed Templeton)

“We found ourselves in a tract of homes that felt familiar and safe. We wandered among the quiet dark tract housing, void of people, finally lying down together on a rectangle of grass wedged between the sidewalk and the street. We stared up at the stars talking until the sun came up.” (Deanna Templeton)

Contemporary Suburbium is a photographic meditation on living in the suburbs of Orange County, California — specifically, Huntington Beach, a seaside town on the outer extremities of the population surrounding Los Angeles. Once dotted with orange trees, oil drilling and summer cottages for the rich, Huntington Beach is now a popular beach destination for vacationers, and the old cottages are being replaced with tall modern three-story houses. The photographs in this book are a look at the people of this traditionally conservative stronghold, the disaffected youth, the fortunate (and less fortunate), as they venture out from behind fences, walls, and endless blocks of tract housing.

Reading like two opposing coming-of-age novellas about the same place, Contemporary Suburbium offers a gritty and sunbaked, yet romantic view of Southern California, and of the twenty-first century in its own adolescence.

Making full use of the book's accordion-bound format, husband and wife Ed and Deanna Templeton present their own photographs and words in turn, printed back-to-back on the same sheets of paper, folded together between blue cloth covers in a die cut plastic slipcase.

Ed and Deanna Templeton's photographs have been widely exhibited and published throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. This is Ed's second, and Deanna's first, book published by Nazraeli Press.

-------

“We were born into this situation and made the best of what was given to us, thriving on the sidewalks and front yards and hidden from the city's influence until the city spilled over the walls of the castle in the surrounding suburbs that grew like barnacles along the edges… (Ed Templeton)

“We found ourselves in a stretch of houses that felt familiar and safe. We wandered through the dark, quiet dwellings, devoid of people, finally lying together on a rectangle of grass wedged between the sidewalk and the street. The stars talk until the sun comes up.” (Deanna Templeton)

Contemporary Suburbium is a photographic meditation on life in the suburbs of Orange County, California, particularly Huntington Beach, a seaside town on the outskirts of the population surrounding Los Angeles. Once dotted with orange groves, oil rigs, and summer cottages for the wealthy, Huntington Beach is now a popular beach destination for vacationers, and the old cottages are being replaced by tall, modern three-story homes. The photographs in this book are a look at the residents of this traditionally conservative fortress, the disaffected young, the lucky (and the not-so-lucky), as they venture behind fences, walls, and endless blocks of housing.

Reading like two opposing coming-of-age novels about the same place, Contemporary Suburbium offers a gritty and sunny, yet romantic, view of Southern California and the 21st century in its own adolescence.

Taking full advantage of the book's accordion format, husband and wife Ed and Deanna Templeton alternately present their own photographs and words, printed back to back on the same sheets of paper, folded together between blue cloth covers in a die-cut plastic slipcase.

Ed and Deanna Templeton's photographs have been widely exhibited and published in the United States, Europe, and Asia. This is Ed's second book and Deanna's first published by Nazraeli Press.