Tom Wood - Bus Odyssey - 2001

The book compiles a 20-year body of street and portrait photography taken exclusively on and around the public buses of Liverpool and Merseyside, England, during the 1980s and 1990s.

Tom Wood does not drive a car, meaning he relied entirely on local buses to commute between his home in New Brighton and the Liverpool art college where he taught. Over two decades, he amassed an unplanned collection of thousands of photos that captured the rhythm of working-class life. Alongside peers like Martin Parr and Paul Graham, Wood is considered part of the pioneering generation of British fine-art color photography.

Rather than acting as a standard documentary, the book uses the bus as a conceptual "viewfinder"—a moving metal box with large glass windows that frames the changing urban landscape. Critics describe the visual journey through Liverpool's streets, parks, and buildings as "Joycean" in its scale and stream-of-consciousness feel.

The imagery focuses on the human presence inside these crowded transit spaces: Captures people caught in limbo-like states of reflection on their daily commute—staring blankly out the window, packed together in shelters, or quietly consenting to Wood's camera. The book documents the changing fashions, hairstyles, and aging faces of Liverpool’s population across two distinct decades. It also embraces an "unsteady focus," motion blur, heavy window reflections, and unique angles to evoke the chaotic, immersive feeling of riding public transport.

First edition. Oblong hardcover. 119 pages. Published in conjunction with the traveling exhibition "Tom Wood Bus Odyssey Fotografien 1978 bis 1998." Edited and with an essay by Sylia Bohmer in English and German. Includes numerous color images. A fine copy in photo-illustrated boards. No dust jacket as issued.


Copy in fine condition.