Listen: Last Laughs by Elliott Erwitt has certainly taken its pound of flesh from me for neglecting to review it more promptly—literally. I was carrying this behemoth of a book from one room to another when I hit the door frame. The book slammed into my ribs and took a chunk of me with it.
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Sandra Cattaneo Adorno’s 10 Years from Radius Books was immediately an object of curiosity when I opened the cover. First off, I wasn’t sure if I opened the front or back cover because the pages flowed from either direction. The viewer enters the work without introduction, save a brief but solemn title page, with no
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Hannah Altman stands out in the crowded field of contemporary photobooks, creating work that is both uniquely resonant and profoundly personal. Her latest offering, We Will Return To You, published by Saint Lucy Books, is a carefully crafted visual journey, a tender yet profound exploration of heritage, memory, and the enduring power of storytelling. Altman
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A journey of transformation is a powerful and enduring trope that resonates deeply because it mirrors our own experiences of growth and change through life’s adventures, big or small. In essence, this form of storytelling explores how a character, often thrust into unfamiliar circumstances through a journey, undergoes significant internal changes. They rarely return to
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A foundational quote from Joseph Strauss, the Golden Gate’s visionary chief engineer, in part gave Arthur Drooker inspiration in his project and resulting book, Thirty-Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Strauss said, “Our world today revolves completely around things which at one time couldn’t be done because they were supposedly beyond the limits of
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Close to the Bayou is a tribute to the power of artmaking in the face of mortality, and explores the enduring legacy of what is passed along in the process. Dimitri Staszewski’s work explores the complex dynamics of male intimacy, the isolation of illness, the profound bond of mentorship, and the experience of cancer. It
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Powerful and meaningful work can come from many places. Memories, dreams, fears, love, loss are all strings to pluck in the creative process. When an artist strikes the right chord, the interplay of multiple emotions can create a powerful, resonant third emotion. Melancholy comes to mind as a good example, but that term feels too
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In his most recent book, Bury Me in the Back Forty, Kyler Zeleny is reconstructing the history of Mundare, his 915-person rural Canadian hometown, a place deeply rooted in Ukrainian culture. He’s using a variety of media and previously untold stories to weave a new narrative of the town’s 1980 history book. This approach results
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