Alec Soth turns his gaze inward
After a transcendental experience inspired a yearlong hiatus from photography, the Minnesota native finds a renewed focus in his intimate book I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Thank you for signing up to Wallpaper. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Eschewing the linear narrative of his previous annals of Middle America, photographer Alec Soth’s new body of work unfurls like a compilation of poetry about people and their personal spaces. Presented in the book I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating (as well as four concurrent exhibitions in San Francisco, New York, Berlin and his native Minneapolis), the series at times focuses on the people themselves, but in many images their surroundings take centre stage. After all, our homes often reveal more about our innermost selves than our clothing or faces.
‘All of my work in the past has been about place to some extent, and I didn’t want that to define this work,’ Soth says when we meet at Berlin’s Loock Galerie the day after his exhibition opening. ‘I wanted to define it as this engagement in a space – that simple.’ This shift in his approach resulted from a kind of transcendental experience or reawakening that followed a deep meditation during a flight to Helsinki in 2015.
Anna. Kentfield, California, 2017. © The artist. Courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York
After he landed, Soth began to question his position of power as a photographer, and what it meant to make and put images out into the world. Upon his return to his Minnesota home, he stopped traveling, stopped making images, and retreated to a farmhouse for nearly an entire year. It sounds daunting to put a halt on life as you know it, but Soth reflects on the experience differently: ‘My gallerist in New York always refers to that time as a crisis,’ he says, ‘but I was the happiest I’ve ever been, it wasn’t a crisis. This was a positive retreat.’
In fact, the slowness and appreciation of time, space and people that he experienced during his time on the farm is clearly reflected in the intimate images that followed, 35 of which are printed in I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating. In Dan-Georg, Dusseldorf (2018), for example, a vast black-and-white painting instantly recognisable as a Picasso adorns the wall in the background, while the titular man stands in the foreground, rubbing his eyes with a tissue and wearing a bathrobe. (A quick Google search of ‘Dan’, ‘Dusseldorf’ and ‘art’ reveals the man as a well-known art patron in the German city.)
RELATED STORY
In an image like Leon, Berlin (2018), we see a man wearing only white underwear as he gazes out a window, his back reflected in a wall-covering mirror. The room itself is starkly white and empty, save for a blue exercise gadget and wigs scattered in a small circle. In further images, the picture frame is filled entirely by unending stacks of old books or a stuffed owl, wings spread, hanging above a bedroom door in Bucharest. We’re taken from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and Cincinnati, from Warsaw to Bucharest and Giurgiu. The places and people may seem random, but we gain an intimate sense about the life they might life, yet one that’s open enough for us to create our own stories. And that’s exactly the point.
‘I didn’t want to over plan how I would get to where I’m going, and I didn’t want to make it about place. I wanted to make pictures with a large-format camera again and I wanted to be with people,’ Soth explains. ‘I’m sometimes reluctant to tell the stories [because] I want people to imagine their own experience. The fact that someone can be drawn to a picture through their own personal experience – that’s what I want.’
Ute’s Books. Odessa, 2018.© The artist. Courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York
Yuko. Berlin, 2018.© The artist. Courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York
Galina. Odessa, 2018.© The artist. Courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York
Leyla and Sabine. New Orleans, 2018. © The artist. Courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York
Vince. New York City, 2018.© The artist. Courtesy of Sean Kelly, New York
INFORMATION
I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating, £50, published by MACK. The book launch coincides with four solo exhibitions in New York (Sean Kelly Gallery), San Francisco (Fraenkel Gallery), Minneapolis (Weinstein Hammons), and Berlin (Loock Galerie). For more information, visit Alec Soth’s website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Toyota and Jun Takahashi create a limited edition Aygo X
Toyota Aygo X Undercover edition is a city car spliced with a high-end streetwear brand
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Daniel Arsham debuts new work in Paris and New York
Daniel Arsham and Perrotin mark 20 years of collaboration with New York and Paris exhibitions
By Hannah Silver Published
-
2 Lucca Avenue: contemporary luxury meets views of Hong Kong nature
Designed by Conran and Partners, 2 Lucca Avenue at Villa Lucca in Hong Kong, is a modern home wrapped in contemporary luxury
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Photo book explores the messy, magical mundanity of new motherhood
‘Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back’ by photographer Andi Galdi Vinko explores new motherhood in all its messy, beautiful reality
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Best contemporary art books: a guide for 2023
From maverick memoirs to topical tomes, turn over a new leaf with the Wallpaper* arts desk’s pick of new releases and all-time favourite art books
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
The best photography books for your coffee table
Flick through, mull over and deep-dive into the best photography books on the market, from our shelves to you
By Sophie Gladstone Published
-
Cyprien Gaillard on chaos, reorder and excavating a Paris in flux
We interviewed French artist Cyprien Gaillard ahead of his major two-part show, ‘Humpty \ Dumpty’ at Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations (until 8 January 2023). Through abandoned clocks, love locks and asbestos, he dissects the human obsession with structural restoration
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Year in review: top 10 art interviews of 2022, chosen by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith
Top 10 art interviews of 2022, as selected by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith, summing up another dramatic year in the art world
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Behind the scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining: new book charts the making of a horror icon
Published in February 2023 by Taschen, a new collector's book will go behind the scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, charting the unseen making of a film that defined the horror genre
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Yayoi Kusama on love, hope and the power of art
There’s still time to see Yayoi Kusama’s major retrospective at M+, Hong Kong (until 14 May). In our interview, the legendary Japanese artist vows to continue to ‘create art to leave the message of “love forever”’
By Megan C Hills Last updated
-
Antony Gormley interview: ‘We’re at more than a tipping point. We’re in a moment of utter crisis’
We visit the London studio of British sculptor Antony Gormley ahead of his major new show ‘Body Field’ at Xavier Hufkens Brussels
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated