John Divola, Supermarket, 2014

Supermarket by artist John Divola comprises a group of photographs of middle-aged women shopping for groceries in the early 1970s. The black-and-white photographs were made in the San Fernando Valley where Divola grew up. Made at the outset of Divola’s career, these images are at once melancholy – an element that runs through most of his subsequent work – and by their nature, humorously touching. They also provide a glimpse into Divola’s upcoming monograph, San Fernando Valley, which will be published by Nazraeli Press in 2014 as part of our forthcoming NZ Library series. Supermarket is limited to 500 numbered copies, and includes an original signed photograph by John Divola.