{"product_id":"roe-ethridge-in-the-beginning","title":"Roe Ethridge: In the Beginning","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"mix-blend-mode: normal;\" class=\"fe-block fe-block-a1f9fba6a4612630ecbc\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"block-a1f9fba6a4612630ecbc\" data-border-radii='{\"topLeft\":{\"unit\":\"px\",\"value\":0.0},\"topRight\":{\"unit\":\"px\",\"value\":0.0},\"bottomLeft\":{\"unit\":\"px\",\"value\":0.0},\"bottomRight\":{\"unit\":\"px\",\"value\":0.0}}' data-block-type=\"2\" data-blend-mode=\"NORMAL\" class=\"sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"sqs-block-content\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"sqs-html-content\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEthridge’s cult early studies of the American everyday return in a three-volume set revealing the origins of his style.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eLoose Joints is proud to present\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eIn the Beginning\u003c\/em\u003e, a three-volume set reuniting Roe Ethridge’s three formative, self-published books –\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCounty Line\u003c\/em\u003e,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOrange Grove\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSpare Bedroom\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e– originally released in 2004–05 and long out of print. Across these early volumes, Ethridge stages a sharp, playful inquiry into the American everyday. From rotting Florida citrus orchards to half-built suburban interiors and the static hum of strip-mall signage, each book turns on a clear typological register, where the familiar slides easily into the strange. Ethridge sets his pictures in a dialogue with photographic archetypes – catalogues, calendars, studio models, kitsch displays – using them to probe how images shape, naturalise and sometimes fracture American life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003eEthridge’s early books all emerge from loose typologies that, in their slippages, probe and complicate the aesthetics of American visual culture. From 2004,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOrange Grove\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edistills photographs made in a dilapidated Florida orchard into a study of slow collapse, a familiar symbol of American plenty quietly withering on the tree. Self-published simultaneously, 2004’s \u003cem\u003eSpare Bedroom\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ebegins Ethridge’s career-long practice of jumbling and juxtaposing the commercial and the personal, in which an early commission for a furniture company unravels into a jagged mix of domestic scenes, catalogue imagery and loosely staged interiors. Finally,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eCounty Line\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(2005) turns to the liminal spaces of Queens and Nassau County, abstracting the language of the strip mall into a concrete-poetry of word-photographs that sit against other images evoking the blurry edges of the suburban sprawl.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eTaken together, the three books form a weave of contrasts, where moments of banality tilt towards the uncanny and the absurd. These early publishing experiments trace the emergence of Ethridge’s now-signature method: slanting, doubling and displacing images until they cohere with unexpected force or deliberately fall apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003eReissued twenty years later, \u003cem\u003eIn the Beginning\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ereads as a prefiguration of the more than fifteen books and catalogues that would follow. It marks the opening chapter of an artist who would go on to become one of contemporary photography’s most influential practitioners – revealing the restless, incisive eye that shaped everything to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eIn the Beginning\u003c\/em\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eis published to coincide with Roe Ethridge’s exhibition at Gagosian Athens (January 22 – March 7, 2026) and is published simultaneously with\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/loosejoints.biz\/products\/rude\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eRude in the Good Way\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTitle: \u003c\/strong\u003eIn the Beginning\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/strong\u003eLoose Joints, 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhotographer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Roe Ethridge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEditors:\u003c\/strong\u003e  Sarah Chaplin Espenon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat: \u003c\/strong\u003eThree facsimile volumes with card insert and rubber band\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize: \u003c\/strong\u003eCounty Line: 36pp, section-sewn softcover, 200 x 250 mm\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eSpare Bedroom: 88pp, section-sewn hardcover, 200 x 250 mm\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eOrange Grove: 16pp, stitched booklet, 200 x 250 mm\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN: \u003c\/strong\u003e9781912719716\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"* New or Sealed *","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56396678955388,"sku":null,"price":63.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2244\/5351\/files\/1_ce01e967-34b7-4faa-86a0-4b22af7289be.png?v=1771951692","url":"https:\/\/bookshop.thephotographersgallery.org.uk\/products\/roe-ethridge-in-the-beginning","provider":"TPG Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}