Greg Girard: American Stopover
American Stopover, depicts the allure of the US West Coast for young seekers. In his case, it served as more of an extensive departure lounge, a prolonged stopover, than a definitive destination.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, journeys to Asia always commenced in California. Whether sailing by freighter from San Francisco or utilizing multi-stopover air tickets to Tokyo or Bangkok originating in SFO or LAX, the author frequented inexpensive hotels or half-slept in all-night cinemas. He engaged with people, captured them through photography, and roamed the streets day and night. Days or weeks were spent lingering, occasionally traveling by Greyhound bus to other cities, and eventually, boarding a plane or ship to traverse the Pacific.
These images, in a way, symbolize the commencement of a journey never returned from—an era filled with heightened anticipation for the new everyday surroundings and the ones to come upon finally reaching one of Asia’s great cities (which, as it unfolded, became home for decades). The author expresses gratitude to Misha Kominek at Kominek Books for enabling these photographs to reach an audience beyond what he could have imagined at the time.
About the Author
Born in 1955, Greg Girard is a Canadian photographer who has spent much of his career in Asia, first visiting Hong Kong in 1974, and later living in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. He became a professional photographer in 1987, based first in Hong Kong and later in Shanghai. Greg Girard’s work to date has examined the social and physical transformations taking place throughout the region. In 1993 he co-authored (with Ian Lambot) “City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City”, a record in photographs and text of the final years of Hong Kong’s infamous Walled City, demolished in 1992.
