I do not know much about the war in Ukraine, despite living in a country that borders it. I don’t know much about it as the fog of war hangs heavily, like a thick, void-like curtain over the whole mess. The principal idea is clear. Russia has invaded its neighbor and, in doing so, […]
Japan is a country that pulls many artists into its clutches like a cultural tractor beam. For reasons unknown, Japan has dominated the imaginations of travellers, writers, artists, and historians to a degree that borders, for many, on obsession. I have never been to Japan, but I can admit being caught in the clutches of […]
Martina Hoogland Ivanow is, in my opinion, one of the most talented people working in contemporary photography. Her photographs and books are unique. She works in a style that suggests cinema, through color grading and the suggestion of a narrative built from a series of independent film stills. There is a suggestion of motion […]
Parenting in the beginning is chaotic. Time presents as something elusive. It no longer defines the days. It runs together until a point of clarity emerges. The experience is tiring, but surprisingly nurturing in retrospect. Once the smoke of the early years begins to clear and a sense of autonomy returns, one is left to […]
The legacy of intergenerational trauma is complicated to untangle. What we pass onto others and try to shield them from is often at odds with the need to unburden the experiences and traumas that have been suffered. It sags in our heart like a loose sock sliding down an ankle, a rock in the shoe, […]
What we do not talk about, dare to concern ourselves with, or pay much attention to are the men who fall through the cracks toward the end. We are happy to discuss the problems associated with masculine behaviour. Yet, we can’t imagine a discussion about men left wandering by their own devices or by […]
It is an interesting moment for the medium of the photobook. The boom dust is beginning to settle as inflation makes the market less navigable. The price of producing photobooks is ont he rise and coincides with a shrinking market size. This is based on a broader conversation with publishers and artists over the past […]
I am incredibly biased as I write this. I share a close connection with the artist Pieter Hugo through our Nearest Truth workshop programming. Although it might seem counterintuitive to the points I will raise subsequently, I have had a chance to hear Pieter talk about his work in detail, with all the challenging […]
Between the Skin and the Sea is the new book by German artist Katrin Koenning. Katrin lives abroad in Australia, and that will factor into the discussion regarding her latest book, published by Chose Commune, the wonderful French publisher who put out her book with equally talented Sarker Protick in 2016, entitled Astres Noirs. […]
I have never seen a single Sofia Coppola film. This might be surprising for someone reading this book review. Of course, I know her presence and work, but I have not seen the movies for any outward reason. I probably know more about her as a person and a cult hero than I do about […]
Observational photography. Intrepid photography. Itinerant Photography. How does one deal with and parse out the general economy of images when abroad, away from home? What is home for a photographer who has moved from place to place over the 21st Century? There is an argument regarding the intrepid photographer, one that covers the ground, […]
Othering, debated through the discourse of reading the camera as a difference machine, seems at the crux of much of photography’s woes. Challenged by the notion that the machine is neutral in its observational and technical ability, the authorship and cultural means of producing images are undergoing a fruitful re-assessment of its terms to represent, […]