Shot over the course of two separate trips, Kim Thue spent 10 months living in close proximity to a notoriously rough area of the slums, digging deep into the livelihoods and emotions of his subjects. Through a visual stream of unsung tragedies, vulnerable integrity and chance encounters, his efforts leave us with an engaging account of a corner of the world normally unrevealed to most of us.
Despite Sierra Leone being renowned for its brutal civil war, I didn’t have a hidden political agenda, a specific humanitarian issue or even a clear story in mind whilst making the book. I went to Freetown, not as a photojournalist, but as a stranger with a camera and an open heart. What I hope to have created is something the viewer can tune into emotionally. Something that hits a nerve without being coercive in nature, and without staking a monopoly on a specific kind of truth. A collection of images simply suggesting that the inextricable coexistence of beauty and dread is an ever present theme within this vigorous and inclement city – Kim Thue
DEAD TRAFFIC is a strongly authored black and white experience, which cleverly invites you to lean into sharp places from start to finish – Clayton Maxwell, writer and photography critic at Eyemazing Magazine
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Dead Traffic is published by Dienacht Publishing
First Edition 2012
1000 numbered copies
Hard cover, clothbound
Offset printed, thread stitched
18 x 24 cm, 108 pages
Includes an interview conducted by Luca Desienna.
ISBN: 978-3-9815119-0-1