Cruising nighttime byways for an adrenaline fix, Scot Sothern first
patronized the marketplace of curbside prostitution surfing the prurient
whims of a young man. He dove to the murky depths of sexual obsession
and resurfaced five years later, shell-shocked and without excuse. While
there, trusty Nikon in hand, Scot, a second-generation photographer,
made full-frontal X-rated exposures, black and white, filled with pathos
and an uncanny realism. The pictures captured the plight of the
disenfranchised in America, those forgotten and drug-addicted. Now he is
ready to tell the story behind the photographs, the confessions of a
befuddled baby-boomer maintaining a slippery connection to propriety
while side-tripping into noirish infatuations with those low in life.
Curb Service recounts Sothern's past as a troubled kid in the 1960s
who visited two-dollar whorehouses and as an adult in the 1980s is still
at it. A photographer who either can't get a break or blows it when one
comes his way, Scot wants to hold onto jobs, wives, and relationships;
he tries to be a good father to the son he loves. Yet he continues
picking up street prostitutes, photographing them, having sex with them,
living moments of their lives and watching them fade away in a culture
that deems them criminal and expendable.
It was only a few years ago that Scot's photography started to receive
notice - by influential Drkrm Gallery in Los Angeles - which led to the
publication of Lowlife, a photo book, by Stanley Barker in the UK and
soon by powerhouse in Brooklyn. His work has since been exhibited
world-wide including shows in London, Los Angeles, and Ottawa.
