FAMILY CAR TROUBLE by Gus Powell - 2nd Edition - Paperback
TBW Books, 2021 - Paperback with French Flaps, 128 pages, 74 images, 6.25” x 9”
IN PRINT
With Family Car Trouble, Gus Powell plays with the form of the novel, both as material object and as narrative vehicle for expressing interior life. The work records and reckons with the arrival of children, the departure of a father, and the maintenance of a difficult 1993 Volvo 940 Turbo station wagon. A new classic of the Automotive Bereavement Parenting genre.
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FAMILY CAR TROUBLE by Gus Powell - 1st Edition
TBW Books, 2019 - Edition of 940 - Hardcover with dust jacket, 128 pages, 74 images, 6.25” x 9”
OUT OF PRINT
Named Best Four Door Photo Book of 2019:
Alec Soth
Cristian Patterson
Chris McCall
Selected a Top Performing Photo Book of 2019: Nelson Chan
Jeff Ladd
Giulia Zorzi & Flavio Franzoni - Micamera
Reviews
"Family. Car. Trouble. Three nouns. When doesn't trouble follow both family and car? A tender series of pictures: I fell in love with everybody. Especially the car."
- Sally Mann
"2019 was a banner year for photobooks. Dozens of publications impressed me with their creative horsepower. But the one that touched me the most, Gus Powell’s Family Car Trouble, is as modest, sturdy and lovable as the 1993 Volvo it features.”
- Alec Soth, Photo-Eye
”Life, death and Jimmy the Volvo: Gus Powell’s family photos - in pictures.” View featured portfolio and read the interview with Powell HERE.
- The Guardian, UK
“The Circle of Life” by Suzanne Révy highlights Family Car Trouble and four other books that focus on family. Read the piece HERE.
- What Will You Remember, USA
"Gus Powell’s new book Family Car Trouble is one of the most touching and thoughtful works I have seen in some time. It is a tribute to Powell’s mental fortitude that he was able to conceive of such a moving project at a time of such despair. While we grapple with the death of his father, Powell reminds us of the wonderment of life by turning his lens towards his two curious and energetic kids. The interweaving stories of life, death, and Gus’s unceasing car troubles reminds us all that in the face of tragedy—whether you are ready for it or not—life moves on or, in this case, hovers in the mechanic’s parking lot. Powell’s deeply personal story is accentuated by the scale, design, and sequence of the book; as usual, everything is keenly considered in a Gus Powell production.”
- Christopher McCall, Director, Pier 24 Photography, LensCulture
"Gus Powell’s book is a delicate balance of extremes – motion and stillness, life and death, skin and steel – a young family, a dying father and the constant maintenance of a 1992 Volvo. The car provides the necessary comic metaphor from what otherwise would have been an oppressive narrative. Many photographers have tried to share their parental loss but few have succeeded. Family Car Trouble is regarded as “a new classic of the Automotive Bereavement Parenting genre.”
- Jeff Ladd, PhotoBookStore Magazine
“I yearn for my driving days.”
- Maria Friedlander
"Gus Powell’s masterful family photo novella. Beautiful, sad and bittersweet. Perfect. The Volvo cried, and I cried with it.”
- Christian Patterson, Photo-Eye
“A relationship triangle lies at the heart of Gus Powell’s new photobook Family Car Trouble, but it isn’t a typical story of adult romantic entanglements. Powell’s triangle is instead drawn between his young daughters, his aging father, and his broken-down 1993 Volvo station wagon, and his gently intimate visual narrative intertwines this unlikely trio into an integrated whole filled with honest warmth and emotion. This is a photobook with a vital beating heart, one that feels close, personal, and authentically touching.” Full review HERE
- Loring Knoblauch, Collector Daily
"Gus Powell photographs through and across the deep range of emotions that exist within the microcosm of family. He does this in a subtle and honest way, reminding us of the big and small, the joyful and the painful, and the dark and light moments in life and in death. The work transmits deep feeling for the challenges and magic of being between young children and older parents."
- Elinor Carucci
"Through my own work pairing memories and motors, I relate to the therapeutic nature of Gus Powell’s touching and fragile family epos. The love and care of a family member and a family car is a visceral journey. Their eventual breakdown proves photography's continual strength as a tool for personal storytelling.”
- Erik Kessels
"Powell tells a tale of life as it happens, poetically interwoven, stylistically cohesive. His pictures are close to the bone; there are no photographs of him, but he is, nevertheless, present throughout.” Full review HERE.
- Elisabeth Biondi, Photograph Magazine
"As soon as you step into Powell’s car - Jimmy - you are inside of family life, whether sunshine or rain. And if broken, you will be taken care of. Get your handkerchief first, Gus Powell gets really close to your heart. Beautiful.”
- Giulia Zorzi & Flavio Franzoni Micamera
Visit HERE for the Press Release and set of print ready images of and from Family Car Trouble.
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