Plutonian forces, it is said, shape and obscure the mind of the “slum photographer” – and the social losers they identify with. If this is the case, then his astrological chart is an apt self portrait of Jacob Holdt, the Danish photographer who, at the beginning of the Seventies spent five years hitchhiking more than 100,000 miles across America documenting along the way intimate portraits of the contrasting social conditions of a cast of characters he met en route. For reference, and as best as I can make out from his astrological data, these are his plutonian forces:
Pluto Leo 10º59’20 in house 9 direct
Sun SQUARE Pluto 2º25
Venus TRINE Pluto 5º27
Mars TRINE Pluto 2º44
Saturn CONJUNCTION Pluto 8º26
Neptun SEXTILE Pluto 2º18
Pluto CONJUNCTION Medium Coeli 3º27
Whether or not it is disingenuous to the suggest that the cause for the affection shown by Holdt to his subjects, be they the poorest of the American underclass or the richest of the moneyed is one of cosmic predetermination; it does remain an interesting conceit – with Pluto being the Roman god of both the underworld and of wealth. And it is one that Holdt himself has posited, comparing on his website his data with that of Jacob Riis.
With his American Pictures slideshow currently showing at the Photographers Gallery as part of the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize without his customary accompanying lecture, it seems like a good alternate narrative to view them by.
Jacob Holdt – American Pictures
Plutonian forces, it is said, shape and obscure the mind of the “slum photographer” – and the social losers they identify with. If this is the case, then his astrological chart is an apt self portrait of Jacob Holdt, the Danish photographer who, at the beginning of the Seventies spent five years hitchhiking more than 100,000 miles across America documenting along the way intimate portraits of the contrasting social conditions of a cast of characters he met en route. For reference, and as best as I can make out from his astrological data, these are his plutonian forces:
Whether or not it is disingenuous to the suggest that the cause for the affection shown by Holdt to his subjects, be they the poorest of the American underclass or the richest of the moneyed is one of cosmic predetermination; it does remain an interesting conceit – with Pluto being the Roman god of both the underworld and of wealth. And it is one that Holdt himself has posited, comparing on his website his data with that of Jacob Riis.
With his American Pictures slideshow currently showing at the Photographers Gallery as part of the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize without his customary accompanying lecture, it seems like a good alternate narrative to view them by.