Björkevägen, Communication Arts Design Award, Shortlisted
On the photos in Björkevägen:
For all the relative absence of people, they give a rich sense of an inhabited environment, and, if the lack of people shivers a bit with a Bergman-like austerity, even alienation, the pictures also convey a comfortably unforced hominess (including what's sometimes mis-tagged homeliness). For me the photographs resonate with a feature of much poetry of the last hundred or so years: the use of, rather than traditional "full" rhyme, what's variously called slant, half, partial or para-rhyme. Those rhymes keep the capacity of traditional rhyme to emphasize, complicate, or contradict a point while also putting such strategies under interrogation or into doubt. I think/feel your pictures often do something similar. They rhyme colors, shapes, objects, and so on without insisting on but still suggesting a kind of friendly likeness, so that, say, the triangles of sailboat riggings (implying motion, departure, return) echo the roof lines of houses or other buildings (implying stability and permanence). The pictures are also often witty, even funny, better, humorous: the big baby, at once pacific and threatening; the road sign that points in a direction no car can manage; the tipsy clown alongside what appears to be a vulgar term in English; the ladder that's failed the verticality trees come by naturally; the handicapped parking sign that seems to comment on its fallen partner; and so on. Well, enough of that. There are moments, too, for me, of all but unironic, nearly transcendent beauty: the stunning photo of the mountain ash-like tree reaching up- and outward before and centered against the down-sloping roof curve and pale green wall of the building, kept from mere prettiness by the offsetting (offputting?), more utilitarian white structure to the left, as by the comment of trees and grass "against" the more kempt lawn in the foreground. Delightful work.
- Guy Rotella, Professor Emeritus of English, Northeastern University, writer, poet
Review of Björkevägen:
Björkevägen is a visually compelling collection of photographs that captures the essence of everyday life in Sweden. Through a carefully curated selection of images, Allen Wheatcroft presents a nuanced portrait of Swedish culture, highlighting the beauty in the mundane. The compositions are striking yet unpretentious, allowing the viewer to feel as if they are experiencing Sweden firsthand. As a Swede living in the U.S for the past 37 years, the photos bring back nostalgic memories from my childhood in Sweden in the 1970s.
If you are someone who appreciates documentary photography or simply has an affinity for Sweden, this book is a must-have.
- Maria Loew, Executive Director, Swedish American Chamber of Commerce - Chicago
The Phoblographer: When a street photographer goes elsewhere
Excerpts below. Click for full text.
[Wheatcroft’s photos] show . . . a clear demonstration of the power of framing . . .
He’s reached a point where so many modern photographers have yet to reach: thinking about photo books first. It’s something we see with . . . folks . . . we’d consider true photographers first — and perhaps any other label you wish second. (20 June 2024)
Review: Body Language, Photobook Journal
Allen Wheatcroft is an astute practitioner of contemporary street photography . . . By using wide-angle viewers exhibiting sharpness in the entire image, his up-close and personal visions enable the viewer to feel as if they are part of the action. The hustle and bustle of city life is well portrayed; we see the stress and joys of being in the middle of these street scenes. The effect of in-between moments, sharply defined and full of colorful life, makes us wonder what came before and what will come after the captured moment for each of the individuals shown. Each capture represents a dynamic moment in progress, never to repeat or be observable again. Thus it can fire up our imagination in strong ways. The facial expressions and the body language of the individuals depicted are realistic, but never demeaning, and we get to share and contemplate their struggles and predicaments. (24 July 2020)
