The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Hans Hickerson · Is it just my impression or are there fewer photobooks today about observed, external, “objective” reality and more about the inner reality of relationships and personal situations? Photographers are using books to explore their lives and experiences – mothers and daughters, daughters and fathers, brothers, sisters, parents, families. Elizabeth Clark... Continue Reading →
Review by Matt Schneider · “My roots in the South extend from Alabama to Kentucky, including Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee. When I go back and set foot on the ground where my ancestors lived, whether it’s in Tennessee or at a family reunion in Warrenton, North Carolina, I am connecting with the power of my... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · I recently read someone’s comment that there are two kinds of photobooks, art books and story books. A possible third category could be concept books. El Retrato De Tu Ausencia is definitely based on a concept, an approach, an original idea. The author, Alejandro “Luperca” Morales, rephotographed Ciudad Jaurez newspaper... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Since its beginnings 200 years ago, photography has occupied an uneasy territory between what is seen and what is not. Photographs record moments that have already vanished; they transform the visible world into a trace of itself. In A Lineage of Spectral Femininity, Hali Autumn embraces this condition not as... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Disarmingly direct and unassuming, Tom Lyon and Pauline Vanden Neste’s On est venus ici pour la vue presents people and places in the Aurore neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium. Built in the 1960s, the neighborhood comprises seven high-rise apartment blocks set among green spaces along a canal. Like other engineered housing... Continue Reading →
Review by Paul Anderson · Jan Staller’s recent book Manhattan Project is a beautifully crafted collection of photographs taken at New York City construction sites between 2010 and 2024. In Staller’s photographs, steel beams and joints, cables, rebar, pipes, manifolds, connectors, and the like are stripped of their backgrounds and taken out of context. This... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Qeshm Island in the strategic Persian Gulf has been in the news lately. It is a large island of about 600 square miles, just off the coast of Iran in the Straight of Hormuz. In 2018 in more peaceful times Kuwaiti photographer Huda Abdulmughni visited Qeshm. She stayed in a... Continue Reading →
Review by Lee Halvorsen • This stunning book—a joy to hold and behold—captured and held my attention for hours. Carefully designed to reflect the art of bookmaking itself, this custom volume employs traditional presswork on the cover, bespoke papers throughout, stunning images, and thoughtfully chosen typography, all curated to honor the historical and visual essence... Continue Reading →
Review by Olga Bubich · Atlantic is a new photobook by the Ukraine-born photographer, curator, and publisher Dimitri Bogachuk, whose delicate work and attentive eye for seascapes have established him as a distinctive voice in contemporary art photography. Formally, the collection can be seen as the extension of the artist’s previous volume entitled Le Plat... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · A contemporary trend in photobooks is to be clever and mix in various and sundry subjects in an attempt to add meaning and depth. Sometimes this works, but often it doesn’t and just comes across as empty attention seeking. Artists who share meaningful issues stand out. Usually it is because... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 