The Contemporary Photobook Magazine
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In Zero Hour, Birthe Piontek continues her exploration of identity and mortality. Known for her psychologically charged portraiture and introspective photographic storytelling (especially in Abendlied, which I reviewed previously), Piontek’s newest photobook connects the personal and the universal in a significant visual narrative. The term “Zero Hour” is historically charged—it... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • This photobook presents a narrative of the collision of several parallel realities, both current and historical. A pristine lake, the largest in a Polish province, lies in the vicinity of a major airport and an airbase, both of which also constituted a prime nuclear target in case World War III... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • There are a number of reviews of photobooks about warfare that I have reviewed over the years. You can enter war in the search box and look at as many of them as you like. But none of them are as comprehensive, as complex, and as personal as this one,... Continue Reading →
Review by Melanie Chapman • What a piece of work is man, how ignoble in reason. Consider this quote: “Children and civilians need not die in war. And parents should not have to hold the hands of their dead children, killed by criminals.” If you have a pulse and have been near any form of... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • I think we would all agree that war is an ugly matter, driven by megalomaniacs – men who have a vast taste for power and control. The cost exacted on individuals and groups on all sides of warfare is always horrendous. Unfortunately, such is currently the case in Ukraine, and... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • In these very dangerous times, democracy as well as the human race seem to be on the chopping block – two things at the core of our continuing existence. We find that the principles which we once thought were ironclad and generally permanently accepted suddenly are considered pliable and bendable,... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Uncertainty and anxiety mark the life of the people of Ukraine, especially these days. Getting international attention, it is a crucial moment in the progress of a country that has been through so much already. The suspense is evident and well caught in the images in this project by Florian... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • Thana Faroq is not only a successful exiled woman from Yemen who found a new home in the Netherlands, she is also an excellent storyteller who uses her considerable photojournalistic talents to present us with a captivating account of the travails of age-old sojourns, once again taking place in our... Continue Reading →
Review by Gerhard Clausing • 75 years ago, in April of 1945, Berlin was at the end of being the citadel of an authoritarian “empire” that lasted twelve years. As the Red Army was marching in, Hitler was ending his life, and the city was in physical and psychological shambles. Among the troops was a... 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 →
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