Limited Editions: Douglas Stockdale on Ciociaria

cover of Ciociaria

Experiencing the tension of feeling like a foreigner in a land that is also somehow familiar, the Ciociaria region of central Italy provided an ideal landscape for the photographic wandering of Douglas Stockdale. Exploring the region over the course of nearly two years, his book Ciociaria published by Punctum Press presents a view of the Italian landscape that is often unseen. The images, selected by Marco Delogu, show a personal view of the region, a record of Stockdale's self-guided tour.

“What I liked best about these photographs is how simply they capture the relentless and sometimes beautiful, sometimes bewildering encroachment of the natural world on man-made environments. I find Stockdale to be a keen observer of how people attempt to compartmentalize and contain nature for both practical use and domestic enjoyment... Within this realm, Stockdale takes a deadpan look at the human-altered landscape, finding in the banal a cross-cultural link to broader metaphorical meaning… A theme of the memorial also emerges, wherein nature is shown as an inextricable part of how we commemorate loss and reckon with the passing of time, seen here in wilted bouquets, neglected fountains and shrines embedded in the rolling hillsides.” -- Karen Jenkins from the review of Ciociaria

page spread from Ciociaria

The limited editions of the book are simply packaged with one of two prints tucked in between the front cover and endpaper, held in an archival bag. Each limited edition is signed and number, with a little note by Stockdale denoting which edition the book is from. These touches further communicate the personal nature of the work. Stockdale was kind enough to share with us a bit more on making the work and the limited editions.

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Limited edition of Ciociaria with Morolo print

"The color photographs in Ciociaria were made during my exploration of the country’s central region, an area that recalled my home in Southern California but left me feeling like a displaced soul.  Visiting it frequently for a year and half, I slowly investigated a region that has neither a defined border nor a known history. This was a transitional period for me in which individuals began to populate the edges of my urban landscapes, avoiding a coldly objective topographic analysis while not developing a photo-documentary narrative.

Signature page of Fiuggi edition

"After a series of design discussion with Susan Burnstine, I decided to keep the two limited editions of Ciociaria very simple much as the region of Ciociaria has maintained a straight forward approach to life. The signed and numbered print is neatly tucked into the front cover of the book. This also allowed me to keep my costs low and provide affordable editions for my first published book.

Limited edition print Fiuggi and Stockdale's Mandarin signature block on back

For the prints, I printed each of the two images of the limited editions with pigment ink on archival paper using an Epson 4800 printer. I selected a paper that seemed to bring out the best attributes of the photograph using the Harman Photo Matt 310 gm FB Mp for its suburb Baryta surface finish, the clean white version for the Fiuggi edition print, while using the same paper in the Warmtone version for the Morolo edition print. One the verso of each print I affixed my Mandarin signature block in traditional Chinese red ink. These two editions are limited to 25 each." – Douglas Stockdale

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