Crude MetaphorsIssue 214: Stephen Shore |
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Ginger Photographs by Stephen Shore Text by Stephen Shore Ginger and I first met when she came to my loft in New York City to discuss running a portfolio in Time Life book’s 1977 photography annual, for which she was the picture editor. When she visited that day, she was engaged to be married, and I was living with a woman I had been with for two years. As soon as Ginger left my loft, she called her father and said, ‘I’ve met him!'. She later told me that as soon as the elevator door opened and she saw me, she knew we were soul-mates. Being emotionally more constricted, it took me a bit longer to see this. It’s been forty-nine years since that day. |
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According to Taoist mythology, Yue Lao, the divine matchmaker, ties an invisible red string around the ankles of men and women who are destined to be soulmates, ensuring that they will meet and marry in their lifetime, regardless of distance, circumstances, or social status |
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When I think of soulmates, I think about a pair of Sandhill Cranes who nested for a summer by the banks of a small pond at the base of a large, grassy mound, at the edge of our land in Montana. Every evening, around dusk, they would make their way to the pond. Sometimes they would fly in, arriving at the top of the mound and walking down. On other days they would walk from hay fields to the west, traverse the mound, and arrive at the water’s edge. |
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Some evenings we would hear a loud squawking – they would appear to be arguing with each other. Then one would continue walking on a straight line, directly over the crest of the mound. The other Sandy, the more insightful one, intuiting that a great circle route is the shortest distance between two points on a curved surface, would walk along the mound’s side. |
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They would then reunite on the east side, their argument behind them, and make their way to the pond, where they would stand, side by side, each on one leg, then bend their long necks and tuck their heads under a wing and go to sleep. Sandhill cranes mate for life. |
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The Crude Metaphors section of Hotshoe has been a prominent and celebrated section of the magazine since 2005. Here we bring together photography and writing, pairing a photographer and a writer to produce a narrative, written in response to a chosen series of images. We hope you enjoy it!
All images © Stephen Shore | | |
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We are looking forward to visiting the new location of the Netherlands Fotomuseum, which opened its doors last weekend. The museum's collection now resides in the Santos warehouse, a national monument in Rotterdam's vibrant Katendrecht neighborhood.
With over 6.5 million photographic objects, the collection includes work by Dutch photographers, with a focus on analog and documentary photography from the 20th century. Many of its treasures have not been seen by the public before.
The current exhibition, Awakening in Blue, is an ode to the cyanotype featuring artists including Pai Dekkers, Suzette Bousema, Glithero, and Anne Geene, who work closely with nature, using cyanotypes to capture what often remains invisible: tidal rhythms, plant traces, and the fragility of ecosystems.
For more information, visit their website here. |
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Currently on view at CPW in New York is Qiana Mestrich: Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate. Mestrich, the recipient of the CPW 2025 Saltzman Prize for Emerging Photographer of the Year, exhibits work from her ongoing collage series, The Reinforcements, which addresses the absence in visual archives of women of color in the 1970s and ‘80s American workplace.
The prestigious distinction was awarded to Mestrich by a jury consisting of Dawoud Bey, Stephen Shore, and Lucy Sante.
You can read more about the prize and view the 2026 Saltzman prize shortlist here, and for more info on Qiana Mestrich's exhibition, click here!
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