Alec Soth: Reading Room

Drawing on documentary, formalist, and narrative photographic traditions, Alec Soth uncovers the beauty and banality of the human experience. His work has taken him across the world, capturing landscapes, interiors, and people in stunning, large-format photographs. These images, carefully composed and exhibiting remarkable clarity and directness, allow the subjects to be grasped all at once, while their details—gestures, angles, objects—invite sustained attention. An immersive exploration of both the artist’s picture-making and book-making practices, this exhibition transforms The Joslyn’s Riley CAP Gallery into a reading room. Photographs from two recent series, I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating and Advice for Young Artists, hang on the walls. On a table, a selection of the artist’s photo books situates the visitor in a small library. Taken together, the recurring motif of the book and a focus on the spaces we inhabit while reading, turns an often-solitary act into a collective experience.

Pictured: Alec Soth (American, b. 1969), Lauren’s Books, 2023, archival pigment print, image size: 40 × 50 in. (101.6 × 127 cm), sheet size: 45 × 55 in. (114.3 × 139.7 cm), © Alec Soth, Courtesy of the artist and Weinstein Hammons Gallery