John Gossage (born 1946)[1] is an American photographer, noted for his artist's books and other publications using his photographs to explore under-recognised elements of the urban environment such as abandoned tracts of land, debris and garbage, and graffiti, and themes of surveillance, memory and the relationship between architecture and power.
Gossage was born in Staten Island, New York City in 1946 and at an early age became interested in photography, leaving school at 16 and taking private instruction from Lisette Model,[1] Alexey Brodovitch[1] and Bruce Davidson.
After a number of years with Nazraeli Press his usual publisher is now Loosestrife Editions and Steidl.
The Thirty-Two Inch Ruler features a neighborhood in which he lives, populated by ambassadorial residences, embassies and the lavish private homes of those who are in positions of power and influence in Washington, D.C., and was prompted by the arrival of a new neighbor, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Over the same year, Gossage took photographs abroad, including in Germany and China, which are published in Map of Babylon.