‘Lost for Words’, published by Ffotogallery, Cardiff, 2010. Test by Mark Durden, 96, pages, 32 colour plates, 285 x 320 mm. ISBN 9781872771793.
‘In 2009 the Ffotogallery in Cardiff, Wales commissioned Peter Fraser to embark upon a major new photographic project in Wales.
In Lost for Words Fraser captures in a unique way the spirit of the country by visiting and recording many diverse sites of interest, working across Wales. As Fraser was born and grew up in Wales, the project has a particular significance in terms of his childhood memories.
The new photography signals a certain departure in that it relishes the artificial and illusory— the world of the museum, other worlds, model worlds. There is a dreamlike quality to many pictures as a result. Fraser’s art does not shout; it is subtle, descriptive, attentive, enigmatic, private and often unexpected. His photography asks questions about how we relate to the world, and the world that is opened up here is often strange, replete with fantasies, illusions and fears. In particular having left Wales at the age of 18, and returning many years later, is a sense in the work of the poetry in the culture and landscape of the country that only revealed itself through later maturity.
Fraser has now stopped using film and this work marks his turn to the digital, a process that has given him greater freedom and versatility— not in terms of manipulation, but in the facility and ease with which he can depict things in the world with digital photography’s intrinsic wider colour range and stability.’
From Mark Durden’s accompanying essay.
A special publication accompanying the exhibition features additional images and an essay by Mark Durden, Professor in Photography and Director of the European Centre for Photographic Research at University of Wales, Newport.’