Tom Wood

Bus Odyssey presents a set of images shot by the British photographer Tom Wood during 20 years of travel on the busses of Merseyside. Wood provides a visual impression of Liverpool's population: lined, weary faces, changing fashions, a rampant crush of day-trippers defied by a surly constructur. Although Wood has been exclusively photographing in Liverpool, his focus on human presence in public space is not documentary. The bus photographs are extraordinary on various levels: They create a view of the city from the human perspective of public transport. The streets, people and unspectacular situations they depict become of general interest. The bus itself is presented as a predominantly visual space, a metal box with vast areas of glass. The inherent narrative generated by a bus in motion seems suspended, with time unfolding in the pictorial space itself. ood takes us through the Merseyside of the eighties and nineties on a multi-dimensional conceptual and aesthetic journey that can honestly be described as Joycean. The photographer: Born in Ireland in 1951. Tom Wood initially studied painting in Leicester, England, but shifted his focus to photography completely after early experiments with the medium in 1973. He has lived and worked in Liverpool and the neighboring city of New Brighton since 1978. Exhibition Schedule: Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen October 20, 2001 - January 6, 2002 · Kunsthalle Wilhemshaven February - April 2002 · Kasseler Kunstverein June 8 - September 15, 2002 · Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg Spring 2003