Long before arrival, travel has props: the map unfolded on a table, the globe turned with one finger, the bag that promises organisation and usually delivers compromise.
The archive contains 151 unique travel-goods photographs across 442 frames. Maps, globes and accessories appear alongside a satchel associated in the catalogue with Michael Palin and a samurai sword, two wonderfully specific objects that widen the collection beyond conventional luggage.
Objects with journeys attached
Harper's still-life photography was exceptionally attentive to an object's implied life. A satchel associated with a familiar writer and broadcaster offers a starting point for research into the object and its journeys. A globe reduces geography to a polished domestic object, while a map turns landscape into line and symbol.
The samurai sword introduces history, craftsmanship and ceremony. Its identification and context require examination of the photographs and supporting catalogue evidence.
Travel within Harper's career
Assignments took Harper from London to Manhattan, Italy, Jamaica, Iceland and superyachts on the Côte d'Azur. The accessories collection provides the intimate counterpart to those larger place collections: what is carried, consulted and kept close along the way.