The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Traditional family photo albums and internet visuals of families are commonplace, often full of clichés and mostly of use only to those appearing in the photographs and possibly their closest relatives and friends. On the other hand, to see family members and friends professionally observed in formal portraits, with full... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In our age of ubiquitous selfies and “mixed media” it is refreshing to review the work of an artist who is truly a pioneer in the area of visual self-evaluation with artistic purposes. With a strong background in painting, a fearless approach to self-assessment, and a love for language, Bea... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Mélaina cholé in the ancient Hippocratic medical approach to the body represented black bile, one of the “humors” or vital bodily fluids, generated by the archetype of the earth, a fluid that was thought to cause problems when in excess. One can indeed observe that when things go wrong and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Ah, the glorious 1980s – an era that still featured iconic photographs on LP album covers and inner sleeves and fabulous musicians portrayed in those images. Since then, vinyl has achieved a resurgence, and many of the musicians are still around, and others have certainly not been forgotten … What... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a human-like creature with the head and tail of a bull, and his favorite meals consisted of sacrificial Athenian youths. His home was said to be an elaborate labyrinth on the island of Crete. Naturally as well as unnaturally, there was more to that... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Where and what is home? And when you go back, how does the changed reality compare to your childhood memories and yearning? Arcadia is a concept that represents mythical and dreamy fiction, a land of freedom and plenty, a kind of paradise that exists in only the finest moments of... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Charles Fréger’s latest photobook presents an intriguing photographic and ethnographic study of “the masks, costumes, and characters created by the descendants of Africans and indigenous peoples in the Americas to honor their ancestors, commemorate their history and celebrate their heritage.” (Back cover) Our history certainly follows us around, and old... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • How to portray a city through its residents? The city of Berlin is certainly one of the most diverse places in the world. Combining the former West and East sections, it is now an even more expanded center of culture and cultures. The citizens’ well-known directness and swagger, sometimes referred... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • How do you effectively illustrate the follies of WAR? No matter how many times some of us advocate brain over brawn, war seems to be an ever-present specter, and this past week was certainly a glaring example. Perhaps such aggressive behavior is a remnant of the ancient male warrior who... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When I look at this photobook, the old Phil Ochs song as rendered by Joan Baez goes through my head: “There but for fortune go you or I …” (check it out on YouTube). At the end of another fairly difficult year, looking at one’s reflection, at what might have... Continue Reading →
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