Ward Long, STAND STILL, 2023

How do you move forward in life?

Standstill collects radiant scenes from Oakland, California, meditating on the space in-between the big chapters in life. A follow up to Ward Long’s first monograph Summer Sublet (2020), Standstill offers familiar interiors and neighborhood sights vibrating with a golden state glow. Friends have children, warm light pools on a park fence, and fireworks explode over an empty parking lot. Time cycles onward, yet these few small moments are caught in a spell of suspended grace. The carefully constructed sequence offers a kind of sunny purgatory, anticipating what may come. What’s on the other side?