evan thomas

Deadpan photography is a cool, detached, and unemotional presentation of an artist’s subject. It often invites partnership between the artist and the audience. Charlotte Cotton devotes a complete chapter to Deadpan in The Photograph as Contemporary Art, and she suggests, “The essence of the style is neutrality, the photographer is saying “this is it,” “this is the way it is,” “what do you think?” The viewer is invited to make their investment of context and subjectivity, and together we find the art hidden behind the neutral screen. 

My project, Silence in Atlanta, is an interpretation of deadpan photography working with cityscapes and architectural structures. The photographs consist of a bustling city that is left alone at night in silence. In these images, I hope to illustrate how the city separates itself from its regular activities at night. Closed business and empty streets show how a metropolitan city can become alienated from its natural environment. Empty roads and streetlights transform these spaces that are usually noisy and full of life into a city of silence.