Bob Zahn: Slab City

photography monograph for Bob Zahn

from Bob Zahn:
Portraits of the face of human resilience in a desolate southwest setting reveal the closely guarded secrets of the will to survive, survive sometimes under the inhumane conditions of summer: 120°F daytime temperatures, no running water, no sewage treatment + sandstorms, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and earthquakes in clusters.
Lived by a few ‘square pegs in round holes’ who have turned their backs on the needs of societal materialisms — credit cards, super highways, Haute Culture fashion, sit-down and drive-thru restaurants, multiplex cinemas, security systems, even bathrooms/toilets — everything is balanced by the important trade-offs of life at the end of ones rope — NO RENT and NO LAWS . . . except don’t interfere with your neighbor’s property and please clean up after yourselves. This off-the-grid alternative lifestyle is on the razor’s edge of civilization.
Survival. But as summers evaporate into abbreviated Bohemian seasons of Fall, Winter and Spring (5 months total) come together weekly on Saturday nights as individuals and as a community, to kick up their heals and truly enjoy life without judgement — freedom — and what in the Constitution is called ‘Life, Liberty and Justice for all’ and the ‘Pursuit of Happiness.’
Welcome to SLAB CITY, often called the ‘Last Free Place in America.’

204 pages
11 x 9 inches