Flash-Lit Interiority of the Car: Andrew Bush's "Drive" and Óscar Monzón's "KARMA"
Two books that evoke an era when cars were not merely a means of transportation, but functioned like a "room."
One is Andrew Bush's Drive.
This series was photographed in Los Angeles and other parts of the United States between 1989 and 1997. Bush mounted a camera on his own car and captured people driving on the road while driving alongside them. Most drivers were unaware they were being photographed, so the expressions captured are astonishingly defenseless.
While the composition remains the same, each shot reveals a different car, person, light, speed, and atmosphere. I am also strongly drawn to the colors of the car bodies, the reflections of metal, and the scenery through the windows. Looking at them now, the presence of American cars and Porsches from that era has a unique appeal. And above all, the very ordinary and private moments of people in transit are deeply impressive.
The other book is Óscar Monzón's KARMA.
This series was created in Madrid between 2009 and 2013. Here, too, the photos were taken without the drivers' knowledge. The closed space of a car creating a highly private domain within a public space—it reminds one of the concept of the "Body Car." Monzón illuminates the drivers with a flash, as if invading that boundary.
What both works have in common may be that, through the existence of the car, they bring to light human unconsciousness, solitude, and the sense of distance in the city. The texture of the car bodies and landscapes illuminated by the flash is also striking.
KARMA is currently on sale. You should definitely check it out.