The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Melanie Chapman • Though we may wish that it were not so, now is not the age of poetry. We live in bombastic times. Giant waves crash, rivers flood, forests burn, plagues descend. We reach for metaphor and instead are inundated with product placement versions of morality; superheroes peddle mega merch. Collagen lips... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Puberty and coming of age—a time to look inward as one reaches out to the world. We are not all the same, and in accepting and welcoming various different orientations, we may reach some levels of discomfort as we reexamine old stereotypes and preconceived categories into which we previously may... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Raising kids is hard even without additional challenges, such as multiple food allergies and some learning difficulties. When these are added to a mother’s slate, the task can seem more than overwhelming, much worse than endless piles of dishes and pots and pans in the kitchen. Yet Sandra Bacchi not... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • What moment can be more appropriate than a major holiday to write about a book of 50+ years of photographs documenting the happenings at an iconic American mecca for folks living out their holiday fantasies? The beach and entertainment areas known as Coney Island are located at the southwestern tip of... Continue Reading →
Review by Rudy Vega • In The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, Douglas Stockdale has produced an artist book which sets out to visually articulate his anxiety felt as a traveler. The book is part therapy, an exercise in search of catharsis. Stockdale uses the aesthetics of the photographic medium as a vehicle to navigate the... Continue Reading →
Review by Micah McCoy • While Odette England’s Dairy Character may first seem a pointed feminist critique of dairy farm culture, a deeper investigation of the text reveals the nuance necessary to adequately address the author’s complex relationship with her past. Odette was raised a farmer’s daughter on her parents’ Australian dairy farm. Her upbringing came with expectations... Continue Reading →
Reviewed by Rudy Vega • The cover of Julie Blackmon’s Midwest Materials depicts the following: four children-all of which have their faces turned away from us, the viewers. They are caught in mid-stride–two girls skipping towards the wall of the building marked by the name of the book- Midwest Materials, while another has arms stretched skyward... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • “What do we yearn for? What exactly have we lost?” There is something very refreshing about Juan Barte’s new photobook. It is based on his observation that our freedom has been severely curtailed in recent times, both by ever-present technology and by the pandemic. Both of these hold us captive... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • The categories of genders and gender-related behaviors and preferences are not as binary as some would have us believe. According to Western psychology, we all have both male and female sides; either side can predominate or be more pronounced at times in individuals. The same is true of a variety... Continue Reading →
Book review by Rudy Vega • The recent publication, Time Traveler by Gianluca Galtrucco is a love letter to the daydreamer in all of us. Making clever use of props, settings, archival footage and captions–Galtrucco has produced a book that guides us back to engage in youthful wonderment. Gazing up to the night skies, who has not pondered... Continue Reading →
PhotoBook Journal 