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 →
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 →
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 →
Elinor Carucci, David Hilliard, Mickalene Thomas – Caress
Review by Gerhard Clausing • These days it is especially refreshing to see projects that honor caring for others. Yoffy Press has a program that persuades three photographers to contribute work to a concept, resulting in a trio of small books. In this case the topic is “caress” – an idea that can be widely... Continue Reading →
Benita Suchodrev – Of Lions and Lambs
Review by Kristin Dittrich • When her photobook reached me for review, I had to put it aside at first. Benita Suchodrev’s Of Lions and Lambs weighs a hefty 5 kg and comprises more than 360 pages. In the past, books like this one contained an artist’s life’s work; today, other standards exist in many... Continue Reading →
George Katzenberger – 605 East Chestnut
Review by Gerhard Clausing • An old ‘craftsman-style’ house and recollections of times spent there – these are the ingredients of this photobook. Photographer George Katzenberger weaves a very appealing narrative around a place he documented a long time ago, which still has meaning for him even now. The old house that once stood at... Continue Reading →
Niko J. Kallianiotis – America in a Trance
Review by Gerhard Clausing • It’s been more than half a century since Robert Frank stirred things up with his first major work, The Americans. Some of what he, the outsider, observed in regard to racial inequality and strife, economic hardships, and political swagger are still in need of improvement even as these lines are... Continue Reading →
Ryan Herz – The Children of Edgewood
Review by Gerhard Clausing • An excellent portrait is one that transcends time and place and is able to reach us with eternal human truths. This is a difficult task, since many individuals wear their outer appearance and their facial expressions like masks that are difficult for photographers to penetrate. In the case of people... Continue Reading →
Gian Butturini – LONDON
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Having recently reviewed the contemporary street photography of Allen Wheatcroft, Body Language, and also having heard about the controversy surrounding the work of Butturini, I was certainly curious to take a closer look at this photobook as well. The book is marked “Edited by Martin Parr” on the cover, and... Continue Reading →
Hannah Kozak – He Threw the Last Punch Too Hard
Review by Gerhard Clausing • One error in judgment, a lifetime of suffering … In this book, the courageous Hannah Kozak allows us to share her struggles with her mother who left her first husband and five children, including Hannah, for an abusive drinker who in a final blow caused her permanent injury, including brain... Continue Reading →