Corey Arnold

Out of art school and unemployed, Corey Arnold decided to begin a life project called 'Fish-Work.' Despite the fact he's dedicated himself to documenting commercial fisherman for the past six years, I only recently discovered his work this summer upon the recommendation of a friend. His images are often surreal, gruesome, with a note of dark humor.

Perhaps I find his work interesting simply because I spend my Saturday afternoons watching Deadliest Catch and, thereby, have fantasized forsaking everything for a fishing line.

What I appreciate most, however, is his willingness to fully assimilate into a cultural group. It isn't easy, as my own brief encounters with work of this nature illuminated last fall.

Shortly before the projects, I read a New Yorker article about Frédéric Bourdin, a French 'chameleon' of sorts whose criminality and eccentricity is only surpassed by his artful disguise.

The contrast between Bourdin and Arnold elucidates the fine line between merely playing the role out of interest, and being swallowed by it entirely from necessity.

Visit Arnold's website (a fantastic one at that) to see his work. His photographs can otherwise be seen in The New Yorker, Esquire, and others.