AQUARIAN ODYSSEY
HIPPIES, COMMUNES, AND THE COUNTER CULTURE
Immersed in the social upheaval of the '60s and early '70s, Don Snyder is best known for his documentary photographs of the hippie era, portrayed in his book Aquarian Odyssey: A Photographic Trip into the Sixties.
“. . . a penetrating trip into the turbulent sixties in psychedelic color . . . a masterful treatise on shooting color in available light . . . and a side-trip to fantasy land.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
THE SIXTIES
The 1960s earned its reputation as the "counterculture decade." It was marked by revolutionary shifts in fashion, music, civil rights, sexual mores, and social norms. Conservative Americans condemned the era as one of reckless excess, while political activists challenged notions of blind patriotism and gender and racial inequalities. The rise of communes, psychedelic experimentation, and fervent anti-war protests reshaped the cultural landscape. Amidst this transformation of cultural norms, Don Snyder embarked on a journey to document life unfolding around him.
FLOWER POWER
Snyder captured the underground art scenes flourishing on both coasts, and documented life in well-known countercultural communities— photographing influential figures such as William Burroughs and Abbie Hoffman.
An activist in the Flower Power movement, Hoffman's anti-war activities collided with law enforcement in 1968, as was portrayed in the film The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Snyder photographed Haight Ashbury, rock festivals, flower children, communes, and innovative artists, musicians, philosophers, scientists, and agitators––among them Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Lenore Kandel, Allen Ginsberg, Arthur Kleps, Angus Maclise, Julian Beck, Judith Malina, Gerard Malanga, The Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin.
HORIZON MAGAZINE
A portfolio of Snyder’s portraits of flower children during the Summer of Love appeared in Horizon in 1968. Other Horizon projects followed, such as his portraits of prominent parapsychologists, including Montague Ullman and members of the Maimonides Dream Telepathy Laboratory .
