The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Let’s forget preconceived notions projected onto images of the female body. Yes, I know, we live in a callous time in which some politicians have been elected or appointed to high positions even after engaging in or advocating misogynous crudities from within the stereotypical outmoded repertoire of “old white men.”... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Why do some still consider war a useful method of dealing with conflicts? Armed encounters between groups of people, whether within a country or between countries, do not seem like a very sophisticated way of solving problems, or of improving the human condition. Where are the boundaries between “necessities” and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In this photobook the documentary photographer Tomas Wüthrich provides us with a visual glimpse into our own past, into a world without supermarkets that supply us with our meat, fruits, and vegetables. It is a fascinating journey into the disappearing world of the Penan people of Borneo, who were discovered... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • Is trying to explain Garry Winogrand’s photographs an interesting challenge or a fool’s errand? After all, Winogrand repeatedly rebuffed attempts to philosophize about his work with statements like “You’re talking about meaning. I want to talk about the pictures.” Nevertheless, Geoff Dyer gives it a shot in this big book of... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Overcoming the past is a prerequisite for a better future. While we cannot change any of the things our predecessors have done, our obligation is to open ourselves to an honest assessment of the past and to bring about improvements. An honest acknowledgment of historical events and of cultural shifts... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Charlie Koolhaas likes to see the world and share her observations in photographs and in writing. She was born in London, is of Dutch origin, has also been educated in the United States, and has lived in a number of countries for extended periods of time. Thus she is truly... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • We are not all the same, and it would be naïve to expect others to be or to become exactly like ourselves and to share identical visions. So the notion of what is represented by the concept “masculinity” also requires many diverse responses; hence the title of this retrospective of... Continue Reading →
Review by Wayne Swanson • There’s a classic Irish short story in which a child in a village asks an Irish Traveller girl “Do you never tire of the road?” The girl’s quick response is “Do you never tire of being fettered?” That pretty much sums up the world views that divide mainstream society from the... Continue Reading →
Review by Douglas Stockdale • Matt Shallenberger’s photobook The Leaping Place is a mashup of family history, overlaid with a visual investigation of Hawaiian mythology. He utilizes the Hawaiian mythology of Kumulipo, a long chant of creation, as the foundation for his own creation quest, using translations of this long chant to help guide him in... Continue Reading →
Review by Paul Anderson • Dark, decadent, distinctive, eccentric, extraordinary, fantastical, imaginative, magical, mischievous, opulent, playful, weird, wild: these adjectives have all been used by others to describe the photographic work of Tim Walker. And, quite happily, all of these apply to the work shown in his latest book, Shoot for the Moon. Walker, who... Continue Reading →
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