'shutting up shop' is the title of a book of photos i encountered today - by John Londei, a UK-based photographer, who created this collection of portraits of tradespeople and their stores, all local small-time establishments that belong to that stream of forgotten trades and places. his project stretched over 17 years, beginning from 1973.
something in this work clicked with Susan Sontag's quote from a letter to jane (Jean-Luc Godard): "this photograph...is physically mute. it talks through the mouth of the text written beneath it."
in this case, Londei's subjects speak through his interview transcripts, in complete, anecdotal and nearly-nostalgic sentences. as anthropological documentation of a dying way of life, it is too sentimental; as story-telling, it is too systematic. and yet it works: i found myself pouring through the 60 sets of photos and text, including the afterword where Londei reports on the shops as they are today. most no longer in existence, some winding down due to financial pressures, others due to their owners' passing.
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