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Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms |
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Photographs by JIM LOMMASSON
STOOTS Fine Photography is pleased to be the agent for Portland
photographer Jim Lommasson's stunning series on America's fight club
culture. Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the Will to
Survive in American Boxing Gyms and its forthcoming publication,
documents a seven year commitment to mining the remarkable enclave of
inner city boxing gyms, shining a bright light on its mentors, its
prodigies and its heroes.
Piecing together a collective history, Mr. Lommasson worked closely
with the renowned novelist Katherine Dunn, who wrote the establishing
essay for the book. In 2004, Jim Lommasson and Katherine Dunn were
awarded the esteemed Dorothea Lange - Paul Taylor Prize for their work
on this series and their book Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice & the
Will to Survive in American Boxing Gyms is to be published by Stone
Creek Publications spring 2005. (The Lange Taylor award is given
annually by The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University to
encourage collaboration in documentary work in the tradition of
acclaimed American photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social
scientist Paul Taylor.)
Since 1998, Mr. Lommasson has traveled across the United States
visiting the toughest boxing gyms, in the roughest neighborhoods of the
inner sanctums of our major cities. From famous big city gyms to the
unknown hole-in-the-wall clubs of over-looked neighborhoods, these
photographs reveal a relatively unknown and, for the most part,
misunderstood American institution. Mr. Lommasson's images tell of the
part that the gyms play in the fighter's lives—from childhood to
adulthood—and the significant role they have in the inner city.
Shadow Boxers shows the gyms for what they are: fight factories,
sweatshops. Most of these gyms exist in the most dangerous and
devastated neighborhoods in overgrown cities. The gyms reek of sweat,
pounding leather, blaring music, barking trainers, and determination
and yet this document also exposes a sensitivity to pride, courage and
hope. Mr. Lommasson has exposed the jewels within these dark
dungeons—the fight clubs prove to be an enclave for the underprivileged
and a source for strength, physically and morally. There is a proud
tradition of the gyms, shown by the tattered posters that cover the
walls, autographed glossy photos, and boxing gear—a visual and oral
chronicle of the history of boxing.
The gym's trainers and proprietors sustain these shrines to the sport
and, at the same time, give its patrons an outlet for self-betterment.
To that end, many of the boxing gyms have after school programs for
kids and the fee for entry is a report card of good standing. In these
dank, fierce places, children who might otherwise be without, can find
mentors; despite the brutality of the sport, the irony is that they are
nurturing, welcoming places that teach, above all, discipline.
Lommasson attests, "the trainers are the heroes, they want to bring
peace to the neighborhood ...and maybe a contender, too." It's the
trainers who are the real champs. Lommasson says, "Shadow Boxers is
dedicated to the trainers."
An insider's vivid, surprising look at a world most of us never get a
chance to see - a world of battle-weary veterans and bright-eyed
newcomers, of surrogate fathers and ancient skills and a sanctuary from
the mean streets just outside the door. Not to be missed.
--Geoffrey C. Ward, author of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
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