The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Matt Schneider · In Mingas+Solidarity, photographer and anthropologist Tristan Partridge introduces us to the cultural tradition of minga in the ancestral community of San Isidro, Cotopaxi, Ecuador. The word “minga” is adapted from the Kichwa/Quechua word Mink’a or Minka, and as we learn from the book’s introduction, indicates “collective or communal work, based... Continue Reading →
Review by Steve Harp · It takes time for what has been erased to resurface. Patrick Modiano, Dora Bruder Loli Kantor’s Call Me Lola: In Search of Mother has been obstinately staring at me from my desktop for some weeks now. At each encounter, I would fitfully and clumsily try to find a way into... Continue Reading →
Review by Henry Kallerud · Victor Cobo holds a strong personal connection with the eponymous Roy Orbison song “In Dreams”. He grew up listening to Orbison’s music with his father’s side of his family: coal miners, from Kentucky. Later in life, he watched and felt a deep resonance with the David Lynch film Blue Velvet... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · The concepts of both space and place are widely used in our vernacular. Both are also often used in photographic projects drawing on the documentary and landscape traditions of the field. However, while the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, the distinctions between the two are instructive when deployed analytically... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · On the one hand, many people define cities as the sum of their innovative minds, cultural milieu, and the enterprising spirit that seems to emanate from a place. Another line of insight into the nature of cities concerns the interpretation of their becoming. As historians and cultural geographers have... Continue Reading →
Review by Brian Arnold · Pres-tige /pre ste(d)ZH Noun Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something based on perception of their achievements or qualities John Cutter, one of the principal characters in Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film The Prestige, tells us there are three basic acts composing any magic trick. The first is called... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When you first hold this large loose-leaf book project in your hands, the sheer impact of its size and its images is overwhelming. We get that same feeling when we are overwhelmed by incessant appeals on all our “entertainment” media which are our constant companions – on phones, television, etc.... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Julia Mejnertsen’s HUN explores nature, hunting, and the mother / daughter relationship. They are interconnected in the book because Mejnertsen’s mother is an avid hunter. Interestingly, Mejnertsen’s mother appears blind to the moral dilemma of killing animals, including a threatened species such as the African elephant. For her mother, discovering... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · Time travel is possible via photos, at least time travel of the mental sort. Photographs from a specific time and place are still there, frozen where and when they were made. With a little imagination you can enter their world, especially when they are packaged as thoughtfully as those in... Continue Reading →
Review by Hans Hickerson · What happens when art tries to avoid becoming Art? That’s what I asked when thinking about Kevin Klipfel’s Sha La La, Man. I have my own ideas by way of an answer, but it is ultimately up to viewers to decide for themselves. The book views like a personal photo... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 