Among the Alcoves

As a novice scholar, Robert is out to make his name by befriending a talented photographer and publishing a definitive treatise on his work and influences. The trouble is, no one has heard from Arnold Wotton in forty years.

Roberts highbrow search leads him to Portland, Oregon, a city with which he will soon develop an intimate relationship. His spirited steps take him along numerous pavements and grasses, through windswept places and places upswept, down to its underbelly and up to its glorious structures that span the Williamette River. Upon finding Arnold, Roberts ideas about photography, the city, and his pursuit of an academic career are exposed, leaving him to wonder what really exists in the light.

In Among the Alcoves by Andrew Mitin, we experience the difficulty of having one aperture through which the world comes at us and the humility of knowing that what can be understood is overwhelmed by the unknown.