Kafka On The Shore

Gregory Crewdson’s Dream House portfolio for the New York Times, 2002.

“The catalyst for these pictures was an empty ranch-style house in Rutland Vermont. The furniture, lamps, even the hand-towels in the bathrooms, were exactly as the owners had left them ten years earlier when they passed away. It was an eerie and beautiful place, painted with memories. Absence was one of the furnishings.”
— Kathy Ryan, photo editor of The New York Times Magazine.

“…I just brought two unrelated ideas to the table. One was that I had always wanted to photograph Tilda Swinton and the other was that I also wanted to make a series of photographs in a particular uninhabited ranch house in Vermont. […] We amassed an additional list of actors, who I felt could inhabit the world of my pictures. […] We had mapped out a concept: to spend the entire month of August, with a production crew, in the house, separately photographing these actors. My parameters were that I would have complete artistic control and that the actors must come alone, unaccompanied by assistants or entourage. What ensued was a magical adventure, strange, enchanting and totally unique magical adventure.
— Gregory Crewdson