Taking Shots

Renowned and highly regarded for his experiments with literature, painting, film and music, William S. Burroughs's photographic work, consisting of several thousand photographs, has so far received little critical attention or sustained public exposure. This book, reproducing many previously unseen images, offers fascinating insights into Burroughs's photographic practices, as well as convincing evidence that his photographic work should be considered a significant aspect of his entire oeuvre. It includes portraits and self-portraits, location shots from his travels in Europe, the Americas, and North Africa, photographs of construction and demolition sites, and his individual and collaborative experiments with photomontage, assemblage, and collage. Essays by internationally acclaimed scholars of photography and Burroughs's work in general offer a variety of critical perspectives on his photographic oeuvre, examining its sources, methodologies, biographical contexts, influences, and purposes. Certain to appeal to Burroughs's many devoted fans, this publication also coincides with a recent revival of critical and cultural interest in the 1960s art scene and the Beat Generation's writers and artists. Published in association with The Photographers' Gallery.