Review by Gerhard Clausing • My wife’s opinion about this book is that it “brilliantly captures the spirit of California and should be on every coffee table.” Well, there you have it, I thought, why do a whole book review? But I know what our dedicated audience expects and what our editorial policy requires, so... Continue Reading →
David Gulden – Nor Dread Nor Hope Attend. Photographs from the Plains of Africa
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The title of this magnificently photographed and beautifully printed photobook is drawn from a poem by Yeats that claims that while humans are afraid of death and look forward to an afterlife, non-human creatures do neither, i.e., the supposition is that ‘animals’ do not dread death nor hope for something... Continue Reading →
Rick Schatzberg – THE BOYS
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Ah, the vagaries of time ... and yet, in all of that there is something of enduring value – friendship, the comfort of having kindred spirits. Rick Schatzberg and all the participants have created a unique photobook that has time and bonding as its central themes and that succeeds in... Continue Reading →
Nobuyoshi Araki and Juergen Teller – Leben und Tod (Life and Death)
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Mutual admiration between two photographers can be extraordinary, especially when it stimulates new work and when it happens across cultures. Even more important, this universal theme of life and death leaves no one untouched. Nobuyoshi Araki had seen Juergen Teller’s project Leben und Tod including pictures of his grieving mother... Continue Reading →
Agnieszka Sejud – Hoax
Review by Gerhard Clausing • When reality is presented as a hoax and made-up stories are flooding social media to substitute for reality, what do we have left to treasure as our actuality? When writers who question the government are attacked as enemies of the people, does the definition of ‘friends’ get altered to include... Continue Reading →
Dyba Lach and Adam Lach – How to Rejuvenate an Eagle
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Poland is a country that has been subjected to tumultuous ups and downs for many hundreds of years, with particular trauma inflicted in the 20th century by occupying forces, and most especially the horrors of genocide, as well as ever-changing borders. In the 21st century, with more open arrangements within... Continue Reading →
Vivian Rutsch – Still Here
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Sometimes a photobook can really get to you, with a narrative that is quite real. At the same time, while it may be full of mystery, the visual and verbal narrative that expresses the truth behind the mystery with all its unsolved challenges is so direct and insistent that it... Continue Reading →
Dotan Saguy – Nowhere to Go but Everywhere
Review by Melanie Chapman • During these past few months of the pandemic, haven’t we each found ourselves staring out windows, looking for signs of life, and longing to travel near and far once again? Dotan Saguy’s newest work Nowhere to Go but Everywhere arrives at a perfect time. Even if the book’s title, taken from... Continue Reading →
Gideon Lewin – Avedon: Behind the Scenes 1964-1980
Review by Gerhard Clausing • What does a sorcerer’s apprentice observe over a sixteen-year period? Avedon was certainly a flamboyant creator, and Lewin, his assistant, became an amazing artist in his own right. In this attractive photobook we are taken on a photographic journey, supplemented by verbal narrative, that documents those years of collaboration. Gideon... Continue Reading →
Haley Morris-Cafiero – The Bully Pulpit
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Bullying seems to be the main manifestation of a new disease that is marked by an inability to accept the fact that we are all different, in appearance, thought, and heritage. With the highest office of the US occupied by one who sets a bad example in this regard, is... Continue Reading →