Ephemeral Currency: A Review of Dallas Crow's 'Against Time and Money'
A Photographic Commentary on Life's Value
Before this photobook review is published at Wobneb Magazine at the end of this week, I am sharing with readers here on Substack. I was fortunate to be contacted by Dallas Crow regarding his book, Against Time and Money, late in 2024. The time has come to share this thoughtful book about the big picture. I hope you enjoy.
Dallas Crow's Against Time and Money (Corvus Editions, 2024) is a photo book project that whispers a wistful, constant message. There are two things you can count on in life: Death and Taxes. Against Time and Money is a study of how quickly things vanish, a visual thought about how our lives, measured in seconds and dollars, are often wasted instead of lived fully. These images show the restless energy of today's world from a different perspective - the unsettling quiet in the eye of the hurricane.
In this work, Crow presents images like someone who walks around and sees everything, but with a twist. He doesn’t just record what’s happening; he shows us the basic structure of our worries about time and money. There's a strong feeling of unease throughout the series, a sense that we’re all trapped in the shadow of the bank’s clocktower so-to-speak, where the ticking of time is tightly linked to the concept of money.
We can think of how photography, as David Campany has written, stops the flow of experience, giving us a moment to think. Crow does this in a carefully crafted way. His photographs celebrate the excitement of life in its quiet moments. They freeze moments that would pass by unnoticed, if not for the foreshadowing whisper of: Pay Attention to the Now.
For example, there’s a photo of a clock duct-taped to a wall. The word, “whatever” is printed on the face, and all the numbers are in a jumble at the bottom. The following page of the book features three young men playing in a lake, I presume. The juxtaposition of the images isn't just about the rush of life or the disregard for the passing of time; it’s about how life is measured, counted, and turned into something to be valued outside the realm of money. As Helen DeWitt says, "There's only so much money you can spend in this life, and the thing you've got to remember is, the one thing you can't buy back, no matter how much money you have, is time. A billion dollars won't buy back one single minute." This idea isn’t just something to think about; it’s the main point of the project.
Crow doesn't show us not the things that money can buy, but the mental cost having them might toll. This is a wonderful example of the type of work produced by photographers after the pandemic of 2020; a return or concentration on values cherishing time and experience is omnipresent in this book.
There are photos of places and signage which makes comment on the preciousness of time: "Open 5 Days", "Coming Later", and a gravesite headstone inscribed "unknown"... How much time do any of us have? There are pictures of people, their faces showing a sense of presence in the moment or thoughtful reflection. With the shared experience of the panic and unknown future of the pandemic largely in the rearview mirror, these are, in a way, visual reminders that our lives are short.
The book isn’t trying to teach us a lesson, but to make us think. It asks us to stop and think about our own relationship with time and money, to consider how we are spending our lives. The images aren’t blaming us, but showing us empathy. They recognize how attractive money is, in the abstract, the comfort it can give - but also show its limits. Most importantly, Crow shows the significance of Now. He makes ordinary things seem worthy of attention, forcing us to face the difficult truths about our existence. The images aren’t flashy or exciting; they are quiet, simple, but deeply moving.
In a time when many people want things right away and have endless distractions, Against Time and Money is a good reminder of how important it is to live in the present, to appreciate the fleeting moments that make up our lives. It’s a project that asks us to think about what’s really important, and to realize that time, not money, is the most valuable ephemeral currency we have. In a world obsessed with having more, Crow gives us a powerful reminder of the value of having what we need instead of what we want, of letting go, of simply being. His photographs are like a visual poem for the moments we often miss, a testament to the short-lived beauty of a life lived, not just spent. They are a call for us to take back our time, before it completely disappears.
Dallas Crow is a teacher, photographer, and writer who lives in Atlanta. He has had work in juried shows in Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Halifax (Canada), Athens (Greece), and Tokyo (Japan). In addition, his solo exhibition of photographs from the 49th parallel, "The Other Border," was mounted at Praxis Gallery in Minneapolis in the fall of 2018, and in the spring of 2021 he had another solo exhibition, "Thankful for the Blues," at Space Place Gallery in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. He has also juried multiple shows at Praxis.
His writing has appeared in numerous periodicals. His first poetry chapbook, Small, Imperfect Paradise, was published by Parallel Press, and another, Troutwatching, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
Thank you …
As you say - in effect - you don’t know what you have, until it’s gone.