Scaffold to the Moon by Huw Alden Davies tells the story of the author’s father Prince, a man with seven sheds (another in the making), an inventive streak, and a biscuit tin with a candle in it (toilet roll warmer of course). It is a story realised through Davies’ images of Prince, Pearl (his mother), the house, and collected trappings of life as well as extensive text chapters in which the protagonists’ voices are heard. In Davies’ own words, this is a book to lose yourself in. He calls for the reader ‘to laugh, think, reminisce’ and ‘to remember that special someone, daft as a brush, who reminds us that sometimes it’s ok to let go’.
The photographs are well made and quiet, unobtrusive. They encourage an easy gaze and offer moments of contemplation contra to the lively and loud portions of text which really drive the reading. In Davies’ photographs we see Prince and Pearl at points of the in-between, as if waiting for the next complaint, prank or eruption of laughter. In accompaniment, documents and family photographs from Prince’s schooldays, working and home life are found throughout the book. They serve as a reminder that despite his flippancy, and the ease at which Prince could be seen as a caricature, there is depth and complexity to his life.
‘I’ve been a funeral bearer forty times. Joyce ‘Y Clwb’ was the fortieth, and the last. If they gave you Green Shield loyalty stamps for bearing, I’d have filled a fucking book.’ – Prince
The text is a highlight of the book — there is a recognition that within Prince and Pearl’s words lies much of the charm, humour and intrigue of the work and as such it should be given ample space. The re-telling of stories and recalling of anecdotes could well become a laboured read but that is not the case here, with attention paid to the structuring of the text sections and a careful balance between the levity and eccentricity of Prince and moments of genuine affection from Davies and Pearl.
Such is the readers’ engagement with the lives of Prince and Pearl in these sections, that the images of the book take on an essential but secondary role. This is no a criticism but it complicates a slight, nagging question around the embodiment of the project as a large format hardcover, with image quality markedly lower than that seen on Davies’ website. Certainly this book adheres to a relatively well established style of photobook and won’t disappoint many, but it feels somewhat stuck between the high reproduction values and authorial atmosphere of a traditional photographic book, and the more playful (and sometimes utilitarian) use of materials of the contemporary form of the medium. Perhaps this is in part a result of the original home of the work being a popular blog, and a desire to see that those familiar with the narrative received something that could be read in response to the ubiquity and fluidity of online content.
Whilst such a question is pressing for this reader, it should not detract from what is one of the more surprising and light-hearted publications of the past few years in which the extraordinariness of an ordinary life is rendered with care… a fond ribbing.
__________
Reviewed for Photomonitor by Matt Johnston
Scaffold to the Moon by Huw Alden Davies is published by and available from iPigeon.
