Review by Lee Halvorsen • The images, the book as an object, the story, the people, and the artist weave, then blend together to create the soul of this incredible work of art. Shahria Sharmin spent a dozen years listening to and coming to know people in Bangladesh’s Hijra community. In the Afterword, Sharmin walks... Continue Reading →
Amani Willett — Invisible Sun
Review by Lee Halvorsen • The Japanese have a word that perfectly describes how I imagine Willett approached making this book…”Komorebi” (木漏れ日) often translated as sunlight filtering through leaves, creating patterns of dancing light and shadow, and, importantly, a feeling of discovering light in the darkness. In an Afterword, which is a large sticky on... Continue Reading →
Clayton Steward — ‘Do what you have to do’ care + commitment in rural Kansas
Review by Lee Halvorsen • This is small book with a very large heart, capturing generations living strong, but challenged, in rural Kansas…far from the bustling crowds but also distanced from metropolitan healthcare. Steward’s Master of Arts, Journalism project found him spending a great deal of time with Larry Engstrom and his family after Larry... Continue Reading →
Alan Wieder — We Will Not Be Removed: The People of King School Park
Review by Lee Halvorsen • Wieder’s intimate images and skilled story telling brings persistence, permanence, place, and people to life in Portland’s King School Park. Wieder spent several years photographing folks in the Park, people who return almost daily despite the tsunamis of neighborhood change over the years. Mitchell Jackson grew up in the community;... Continue Reading →
Martin Stupich — ORE and EMPIRE
Review by Lee Halvorsen • History, art, colonialism, exploitation, humanity…all swirling about in Stupich’s monumental collection of visual and textual art in this book. He brings North America’s Camino Real alive from the time of the Spanish Conquistadores to twentieth century’s Guggenheim’s vice like grip on silver and copper mining that are on the same trails ridden... Continue Reading →
Arturo Soto – Border Documents
Review by Brian F. O’Neill · There has been a surge of image-text photobooks in the market in recent years. In some, the texts and images operate rather independently, while perhaps still holding onto some underlying issue. In others, the text is treated as an opportunity for a more traditional analytical “lens” on the subject... Continue Reading →
Amy Horowitz — A Walk in the Park?
Review by Lee Halvorsen • Amy Horowitz takes us for A Walk in the Park and magically transports the reader into the stories of those she’s photographing. Washington Square Park and the West Village in New York City are rich with diversity and young people discovering themselves and adulthood in today’s world. Horowitz brings us... Continue Reading →
Sunniva Hestenes – A Tear for Someone Undeserving
Review by Hans Hickerson · Photobooks today explore themes that photographers of previous generations never would have imagined. You name it, and some intrepid photographer is turning it into a photobook. There are books, for example, that deal with family relationships, memories of past times, emotional landscapes, and problematic real-life situations. Sunniva Hestenes’ A Tear... Continue Reading →
Lefteris Paraskevaidis – Around the Line
Review by Rudy Vega · Lefteris Paraskevaidis’ Around the Line is an evocative photobook documenting the evolving landscapes along the Athens - Thessaloniki national highway and its surrounding areas. Spanning a decade of travel and observation, this body of work functions as both an aesthetic meditation and a sociopolitical inquiry into the transformation of Greece’s... Continue Reading →
Jason Gray — Does a parasite know that it’s a parasite?
Review by Lee Halvorsen • You’re in the eye of the storm…you’ve seen the chaos and change that just occurred and in the not-too-far distance, you see more coming. Through Gray’s images, this is the storm’s eye view of mankind’s interaction with the planet and the mostly uncertain nature of that contact. You're standing on the... Continue Reading →