In Pigeons, Stephen Gill's photographs are devoid of sentiment or affectation – rather than showing the pigeon in our world, they take us into theirs. The lens noses in under bridges, squeezes through cracks and scopes out crannies. These images bestow on the birds that oft-trumpeted but seldom realised attribution: their dignity. It's this inversion of the anthropocentric view that makes Gill's images so compelling. Pigeons are, like urban foxes, the economic migrants of the animal world – forced into the cities to scratch a living as best they may – and before we condemn them, we would do well to ask ourselves this question: would we do as well were the tables to be turned? Published by Archive of Modern Conflict (London). 52 pages, 25.2 x 20cm, hardcover, Archive of Modern Conflict (London).
