The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Abstract art can certainly fuel one’s imagination. When the main attention of a photograph is more diffuse, that is, not so concrete, we can let our thoughts wander, and we can project our own experiences, wishes, and hopes into what is shown or not shown. When individuals and places are... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Many of us have several ethnic groups in our heritage, and we all certainly have lots of ancestors, but not all of us are able to trace our background details more than a couple of generations. And when we look in the mirror, do we recognize parts of those who... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • It is possible to develop many misconceptions about people and countries that we don’t know much about. Some of those views may be based on one-sided reports and specifically slanted selections of what is shown and described to us. It is equally common for journalists and photojournalists to concentrate on... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Very seldom do we encounter photobooks that not only are a total surprise but can serve to entertain us too. This is one such exceptional example. During the height of the pandemic, Kessels and Sauvin exchanged visuals from their extensive collection of anonymous ‘vernacular’ photographs with each other, and now... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Communicating with one’s parents can be quite a chore, no matter at what age we find ourselves. And for a girl growing up, her dad is that special guy who usually serves as the first example and model of what men might be like later on in her life. This... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Once upon a time, itinerant photographers armed with crude homemade cameras worked the street corners and parks around the world, creating inexpensive memorabilia and first-time photographic experiences for the masses. Then came the rise of cheap personal cameras followed by the digital revolution, and these photographers largely disappeared. Now a... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The American painter Robert Henri, who also spent some time in Paris, once said, “When we respect the nude, we will no longer have any shame about it.” This is a principle that also very much applies to the Chinese photographer 9mouth, who has a special affinity for depicting the... Continue Reading →
Review by Kristin Dittrich • Timm Rautert combines three lives in one: artist, theoretician and teacher, a professional in the field of photography for half a century. During his photography studies with Otto Steinert at the Folkwang School in Essen, he moved away from the “beautiful picture” in the classic sense, as he puts it,... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • One person’s nightmare is another person’s reality. Sometimes the two realms are connected in mysterious ways. Roger Ballen is certainly the great master of showing us the seemingly absurd that impinges on the everyday, and here we have another, even more complex journey into Ballen’s universe. This time there is... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • From time to time we wonder what life is all about. Special moments and places can intensify such musings, for instance, when we are looking at a wonder of nature, such as a giant gorge cut into a wild landscape – like a giant throat ready to consume us –... Continue Reading →
