Sleeping by the Mississippi

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Sleeping by the Mississippi by Alec Soth is a pivotal work in the photobook era, first published by Steidl in 2004. This debut book, which has seen three editions, established Soth as a prominent figure in contemporary photography. The new MACK edition coincides with the inaugural exhibition in London at Beetles+Huxley gallery and features two previously unseen photographs. Originating from road trips along the Mississippi River, the book captures the essence of America’s often-overlooked ‘third coast.’ Soth’s large-format color images present a diverse array of individuals, landscapes, and interiors, evoking a mood of loneliness, longing, and reverie. Anne Wilkes Tucker notes in her original essay that the 46 meticulously edited pictures touch on themes such as illness, race, crime, and redemption. Similar to Robert Frank’s The Americans, this work combines documentary style with a poetic sensibility, using the Mississippi as an organizing motif rather than the central subject. The series embodies a distinctly American spirit of wanderlust, and thirteen years after its initial release, Soth’s lyrical perspective resonates with deeper significance, intertwining hope, fear, desire, and regret along this mythic river.