'When you look at your parents or grandparents it's hard to imagine them as young lovers full of adventure'

Conjuring up an extraordinary tale and extra depths to the famous photographer, Lee Miller, Ami Bouhassane shares her grandmothers love letters, held in the Lee Miller's Archives.

Episode 12. The Road is Wider than Long

This episode features the journey that Lee Miller and Roland Penrose took through the Balkans in the summer of 1938. Inspired by their time together, Roland on his return to England wrote a poem called The Road is Wider Than Long. He then illustrated it with his photographs from the trip and formed what is today recognised as the first British Surrealist photo book. The poem is featured here in its entirety, however, as a Surrealist work it can be a little tricky to unpack what is going on so we have included the thoughts of Antony Penrose and more information on their travels.

'The road is wider than long, trees thicker than tall, wells reach to the clouds, their blood is more solid than their bones.' Roland Penrose 1938

Guest Speakers: Antony Penrose (son of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose and Co-Director of Lee Miller Archives), Hilary Roberts (Independent Curator, formerly senior curator of photography at Imperial War Museums, London), Hussein Omar (lecturer on Modern global history, University college Dublin) and Sam Bardaouil (Founder & curator of ArtReorientated).

Lee Miller's letters read and presented by Ami Bouhassane

Roland Penrose's letters read by Adam Grayson

Music composed by David Cullen

Series Producer: Tolly Robinson

All content © Lee Miller Archives, England 2023. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk

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