In Radiant Identities, photographer Jock Sturges explores issues of youth and the liberation of body and spirit. These unforgettable images are made from his own circle of acquaintances and family; the settings are their homes and stretches of naturist beaches in France and Northern California. In superb reproductions, Sturges evokes the classical spirit of Old Master paintings and late-nineteenth-century photographic tableaux, while probing concepts of emergent sexuality and psychological intimacy.
Aperture's 1991 publication of Sturges's first book, The Last Day of Summer, came shortly after the FBI's much-publicized raid on his home in California, the confiscation of thousands of his images--deemed "pornographic"--and the subsequent rejection of the case by a federal grand jury. Now in its fifth printing, The Last Day of Summer has outlived and transcended that ordeal, drawing both critical and popular acclaim throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and bringnig Sturges well-deserved artistic recognition.
Radiant Identities is the second volume in Sturges's ongoing work. Physically and psychically revealing, these deeply felt images are glorioiusly natural and wonderfully compelling.
Elizabeth Beverly's introductory essay, drawn in part from conversations with Sturges's subjects, adds a new dimension to the photogarphs. These personal reflections shed light on the unique collaborative process by which Sturges's remarkable photographs are made.
In the book's afterward, noted photography critic A.D. Coleman places Sturges in the context of current debates surrounding censorship in the arts, and discusses the themes of innocence and sexuality in the photographs.
