Book Discussion: The Paisley Tunnel, 1970 by Mark Brady

The Paisley Tunnel
A powerful visual memoir that connects the personal with the world for those Americans who came of age in an era of dramatic change. It is a photographic journey cross- country with text combining personal, life-changing experiences, with broad strokes of America’s cultural subconscious. It captures the youth and spirit of that generation, the fabric that made up the country, and is a testimony to the times.

Mark Brady:
Mark Brady has been working in photography, and video for over 40 years. He received his M.F.A. from the Visual Studies Workshop (SUNY, Buffalo), Rochester, N.Y.

He has received CAPS and NYFA Grants, and has done an Artist-in-Residency (Video) at WXXI-TV (PBS) through a New York Council on the Arts Grant.

His work has been shown nationally, and is in numerous collections, including the Donnell Library, Global village, and Visual Studies Workshop. His interests are primarily in documentary and autobiography. He has taught at the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Alfred University. He has been a photojournalist at WHAM-TV (ABC) since 1988, where he has received numerous honors for his work.

Selected portfolio from the book: The Paisley Tunnel, 1970

Book discussion with Roger Bruce (left) and Mark Brady (right)
(January 2016)

Order a copy of the book

Editor’s note:

Easy Rider, Robert Frank’s The Americans. Woodstock, California Dreaming, Vietnam, Civil rights and the Women’s Rights Movement are the unspoken context of this book. It was a time for challenging, leaving home and searching for something, anything. It was a time when we all got stoned listening to music that pointed inward and outward. Not only did the (USA) social landscape change (We can not forget Watergate), but we changed as well.

In the late 1960s and into the 70s, photography lifted its head, giving license and purpose to the VW traveler. Taking photographs provided a purpose as the days and hours passed. Influenced by Danny Lyons, Friedlander, Minor White and others, Mark Brady did what so many of us wanted to do: make and photograph the road trip. (Least we not forget Will Nelson and his 1979 hit On the Road Again.)

His book, The Paisley Tunnel, was a generational experience. It speaks to images making images, and experience impacted by the searching and hopeful. Looking back 40 years, sitting here listening to Carol King, it does not feel that long ago.