Show Notes
In this episode, Gem Fletcher talks to Daniel Shea about his latest book, Distribution which began with a simple question: how do you photograph a forest? In this roving conversation they explore the genesis of Distribution while discussing everything from the personal and often painful journey of artmaking to the future of photobooks and much more in between. What is interesting about Daniel's work is his simultaneous desire for order and complexity - essentially offering more rigorous ways to think about how we move through and experience the world.
Daniel Shea is an artist based in New York City. He has published a number of books including Distribution, Ex Nihilo and 43-35 10th Street. He has exhibited internationally including at The Pavilion of the United States during the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Foam, Amsterdam, and The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. He has been a resident artist at Light Work and His photographs have appeared in The New Yorker, Frieze and Fantastic Man
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More from The Messy Truth - Conversations on Photography
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In this episode, from my second salon titled, Between Two Worlds which took place in January 2026 at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and supported by WePresent. The one day salon is an attempt to describe the feeling of existing in two image worlds, the one we think we know, and the new one emerging. We can sense that this new image world operates differently to the one we were socialised in—and yet it’s unclear exactly how. In this session, Gem Fletcher is joined by Bruno Ceschel, Brian Paul Lamotte and Lillian Wilkie. Together they discuss, What’s next for PhotoBook publishing?
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