The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When two gifted photographers bounce ideas for personal assignments off of each other in a free-floating way, the results can sizzle. This is the situation we have in the present project. Anna Strand and Helga Härenstam gave each other nine different assignments each, to the tune of “Do something about... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The work of Anastasia Samoylova, as shown in this first photobook retrospective and also in an exhibition at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art (through May 11, 2025) was a delightful discovery for me. Not only does she create landscapes and other scapes that have meaning and a certain timelessness,... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • Between June 1972 and July 1973, Japanese street photographer Daido Moriyama produced the first five issues of his own magazine Kiroku (Record). In 2008, Moriyama resumed publication of Record with issue 6, and in 2017, Japanese cultural specialist Mark Holborn edited the first thirty issues of the photographer’s personal publication... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson • In Maria Elisa Ferraris’ Aqua we witness the wild, terrible, awesome, raw, relentless power of water. In 34 spectacular photographs it rises, falls, lifts, pushes, pounds, churns, heaves, hammers, roils, boils, breaks, surges, slams, crashes, smashes, thunders, roars, and rages. It comes at you and doesn’t stop. The images in... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson • Part of the fun of reviewing photobooks is getting under the hood and taking a book apart to see what makes it work. Sergey Bykov’s photobook After Us is a good candidate for a closer look, as it resists easy analysis. Or rather there is an obvious reading but then... Continue Reading →
By Hans Hickerson • [Editor’s Note: These interviews are an interesting look at the history and wherewithal of this event, and accompany the report and visual essay we published a few days ago.] Paris, November 10, 2024 Sebastian Hau Hans Hickerson: So, can you tell a little bit about the history of Polycopies and how... Continue Reading →
Report and Visual Essay by Hans Hickerson • Polycopies started as a small popup photobook sales event with a few vendors in 2014. It has grown and today includes prizes, speakers, workshops, and focused programs. It was on a refreshingly more human scale than Paris Photo, but at peak hours it too could become a mosh... Continue Reading →
Report and Visual Essay by Hans Hickerson • Never having attended Paris Photo, I did not know what to expect. I was unprepared for its overwhelming scale, its high-octane mix of image and ego. And the crowds: how at times you had to wait to squeeze in to look at a book, or to queue... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • All you have to do is watch “Gorilla Videos” on Facebook to recognize that some animals are very similar to us. And that is not really a case of anthropomorphism, which can be defined as attributing human characteristics to other creatures. But assigning animals to a lower class and denying... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Mo Yi is an interesting Chinese photographer of Tibetan origin. He has had only a few major exhibitions in the West; this photobook and the related exhibitions (UCCA Center for Contemporary Art and Arles Photography Festival) are a welcome change. His work encompasses several decades of experimenting with images of... Continue Reading →
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