Phonebook
Photography by Aaron Abbott
by Aaron Abbott
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About the Book
Payphones are becoming a relic of a past age. While they once serviced a wide variety of socioeconomic brackets, payphones today are found almost exclusively in the most destitute environments. In general, payphones are used by those who cannot afford personal land or cell lines or for communications that require anonymity, such as drug deals. Payphones are thus marginalized to the degree that most of our population does not regularly use them. To future generations, the image of a payphone may appear as foreign as a Pony Express rider would seem to our own. An informal poll confirms that the large majority of my students have never made a call with a payphone.
To make a record of this dying form of communication, I photographed every payphone in the grid between 16th & 24th streets, and Thomas to Van Buren in Phoenix Arizona. These images took on a life of their own, not only documenting the payphones, but also capturing the culture revolving around these areas. The resulting photographs explored the cultural aesthetics of these areas while pursuing a visual simplicity.
Recently, I came into possession of a list identifying the locations of payphones used by the Bonanno crime family in the 70’s and 80’s. To ensure that they were not wiretapped, the Bonanno family exercised extreme discipline, using only payphones to conduct business. While pursuing this project, I have been amazed at the number of mob-phones that still exist. In fact, roughly two-thirds of the phones that I have hunted down still stand. And as they are typically found in remote and run-down areas of Tucson, several of these remain in use to this day.
The images in my series explore the totems of a time gone by and hint at the endurance of a shadowy reality known only by a few.
To make a record of this dying form of communication, I photographed every payphone in the grid between 16th & 24th streets, and Thomas to Van Buren in Phoenix Arizona. These images took on a life of their own, not only documenting the payphones, but also capturing the culture revolving around these areas. The resulting photographs explored the cultural aesthetics of these areas while pursuing a visual simplicity.
Recently, I came into possession of a list identifying the locations of payphones used by the Bonanno crime family in the 70’s and 80’s. To ensure that they were not wiretapped, the Bonanno family exercised extreme discipline, using only payphones to conduct business. While pursuing this project, I have been amazed at the number of mob-phones that still exist. In fact, roughly two-thirds of the phones that I have hunted down still stand. And as they are typically found in remote and run-down areas of Tucson, several of these remain in use to this day.
The images in my series explore the totems of a time gone by and hint at the endurance of a shadowy reality known only by a few.
Features & Details
- Primary Category: Fine Art Photography
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Project Option: Standard Landscape, 10×8 in, 25×20 cm
# of Pages: 34 - Publish Date: Mar 13, 2009
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