Stand By. Photographs by Sputnik Photos with 
numerous contributing photographers.
Published Sputnik Photos, 2012.

Stand By
Reviewed by Christopher J. Johnson

Stand By
By Sputnik Photos with numerous contributing photographers.
Sputnik Photos, 2012. Hardbound. 162 pp., illustrated throughout, 6-3/4x8-1/2".

Stand By is an anthology of photographs centered on Belarus and the Belarusian national identity. It features the work of nine different photographers from the Sputnik Photo Collective. The book itself is beautifully and sturdily bound; it is a volume of the finest quality (even the black dye of the cover is high quality and does not, like so many "high quality" books smudge or run), but I digress. This collection has so many good qualities; it is an excellent source of factual history, of style, of superb examples for how to frame a photograph, of what good high quality printing can offer, etc.

The first collection of work in Stand By is a series of photographs of photographs entitled Goodbye, Motherland by Andrei Liankevich; a lazy approach to photography you might say but, in this case that is not so. Liankevich describes his inspiration in his own words: "War has never been anything close to me in [an] emotional sense. It was the story about 'every fourth man who died in Belarus.' But I have never sensed it personally. There was no sorrow, no pain." From this standpoint the collection unfolds in faded faces, sleeping soldiers and strange personal paramilitary objects (busts of generals, canteens, manikins in uniform). Liankevich's photos are eerie and haunting, they seem to look into the past as if one were looking through a swimming pool at people and places. This coupling of theme and material is an ideal marriage of medium with idea.

Stand By, by Sputnik Photos. Published by Sputnik Photos, 2012.

Following Liankevich's rich opening, Rafal Milach (who is quickly becoming my favorite contemporary photographer) gives us his The Winners, a dual collection of corrected spaces and obscure “winners.” Milach photographs walls that had been defaced with graffiti set right again with off shade paint. One senses that a greater meaning has been erased, a repressed voice has been shoved further under and then, in the center of these photographs, we find another, smaller collection of photographs that document local "winners" through Polaroids. "Best Bus Driver," "Best Bride," "Best Border Guard Dog," and "Best Milkmaid" join a host of others who excelled in their small fields; they are a handful of bests from a country that is, in of itself, a handful of gems. This collection, which at first may seem too stark, suddenly, with the inclusion of the smaller collection, takes on a fuller and lasting luster in its explosive juxtaposition of images.

Stand By, by Sputnik Photos. Published by Sputnik Photos, 2012.

Adam Panczuk contributes a nice, stylish little collection of photos that pay homage to "the care Belarusians [take] in their dress," as he puts it. These photos are simple and elegantly framed and are true to their theme though, perhaps, a little too haute for their surroundings. That being said, Panczuk's photographs can hold their own against the most highly regarded of fashion photographers today, a fact that stares at us point blank in this brief collection.

Stand By, by Sputnik Photos. Published by Sputnik Photos, 2012.

I Reminisce and Cry for Life by Agnieszka Rayss documents in photographs and in their own words Belarusian women who served in the military during World War II. This collection is rich in historical interest and also serves as a lovingly arranged homage to the elder women of Belarus (again, not many Belarusian men survived their military service in the twentieth century). Every word recorded in the section is worthy of reading and trying to understand. In my mind this collection goes hand-in-hand with Manca Juvan's Homeland, another series contained in Stand By, which explores Belarusian emigrants living in New York. These women (it is all women) found their way to the United States during the utter turmoil of their country's various struggles. We are given their words, their history and their deep sense of nationality (strange that, time and again, history shows us that the greatest sense of national pride is often found among exiles and emigrants). The photos document their new lives in a new country and their roots in their old country. This single collection goes further than any other in Stand By to increase the sense that Belarus is a great country of intelligent and hardworking people and, further, that people wherever they may be, are steeped in their ancestral roots with pride.

Stand By, by Sputnik Photos. Published by Sputnik Photos, 2012.

A further, similar study of Belarusian women is found in City of Women by Justyna Mielnikiewicz. The swing of this collection draws attention back to the missing generations of male Belarusians as it takes the form of a catalog of eligible single women looking for male companionship. These interviews are simultaneously adorable and heartbreaking. The women in this collection, seemingly widowed before marriage, are smart, funny, educated professionals who, not for lack of looks or personality, can not find partners in their native surroundings. This collection does more to highlight the lasting effects of war on this tiny nation than any other; very little has made me aware so acutely as to the enduring horror and hardships of a war torn nation.

Stand By, by Sputnik Photos. Published by Sputnik Photos, 2012.

Stand By is far and away the best single anthology of photography I have encountered in years. It is focused and professionally polished, topical and searching. The Sputnik Photo Collective seems at a point in their career where they are beyond doubt, beyond reproach and at the crossroads of entering the everlasting history of art.—CHRISTOPHER J. JOHNSON

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CHRISTOPHER J. JOHNSON is originally from Madison Wisconsin. He came to Santa Fe in 2002 and graduated from the College of Santa Fe majoring in English with an emphasis in poetry. He is an arts writer for the Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque. 

Lauren Semivan, The Waves, 2011

We are pleased to announce the new portfolio, Observatory by Lauren Semivan on the Photographer's Showcase. Semivan writes, "My interest in photography is interdisciplinary and synergistic, informed by the written word, painting, drawing, sculpture, and the raw material of human experience."

Lauren Semivan, Untitled (Bones), 2012

Lauren Semivan draws on the experiential nature of time and dreamlike states, utilizing the camera to suspend those experiences in a single, still frame. The photographs are highly composed in a studio setting with a combination of props such as tree branches, string, furniture, wishbones, curtains, mirrors and her own body, all working together in unison through form, light and shadow. The results are dreamy and whimsical, yet dark and foreboding -- seeming to echo the ever-changing nature of our experiences.

Each piece oscillates between traditional photographic and drawing processes through the clever and highly controlled use of lighting and a black and white palette. Semivan carefully selects and lights each prop to the point of near abstraction -- a piece of string is easily mistaken for a charcoal line drawn into the frame, a tree branch follows the form of her long hair, curtains follow the form of her dress. The eye naturally settles on the simple, formal connections made between the objects in each frame. Despite the amount of detail, we are never left feeling jarred by the experience of looking at her photographs.

Lauren Semivan, Untitled (Mirror), 2010

The basis for the project feels entirely psychological. These are places intended to be both familiar and strange. She writes, "Observatory elegantly draws upon a tension that exists between irrational and physical worlds." Observatory is a stunning body of work that embraces the unknown and evokes a sense of spontaneity while employing traditional, controlled methods of production in the studio environment.

For more information, please email the gallery or call 505-988-5158 ext. 121.

View Lauren Semivan's portfolio on the Photographer's Showcase

In video #11 of our In-Print Photobook series, Melanie McWhorter shares with us Pieces of String by Justin Kimball published by Radius Books.


In-Print Photobook Video #11: Pieces of String by Justin Kimball from photo-eye.

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Poland: In Search of Diamonds. Photographs by Tomasz Wiech.
Self Published, 2012.

Poland: In Search of Diamonds

Reviewed by Tom Leininger

Poland
Photographs by Tomasz Wiech.
Self Published, 2012. Hardbound. 120 pp., 41 color illustrations, 7x8-1/2".

Tomasz Wiech and Michal Olszewski roam Poland looking for the bland and boring. With Wiech's photographs and Olszewski's writing they present a country in transition and willing to try anything. They do this with a wry sense of humor and a clear-eyed contemporary photographic vision.

The photographs confront both the urban and rural land that has a long history and an open future. Wiech mixes bits of the past within the present landscape. A shell of a roadside bar sits along a modern highway in the late afternoon light. An umbrella flies across a rural landscape in the grey light of a dreary day with a large Tesco store in the distance. The image of the umbrella stops the viewer. How often is a scene like this recorded? In another image, an empty sign holder matches the color and texture of the old building next to it. Wiech found a modern pizzeria sitting in the middle of empty field. Scenes like this take the viewer on an idiosyncratic trip.

Poland, by Tomasz Wiech. Published by Self Published, 2012.

It is a smaller sized book, creating a more intimate reading experience. The printing is excellent and the heavy paper stock adds to the experience. Wiech's photographs are interspersed with short writings by Olszewski about what he sees out a bus window, or what it is like working with a photographer. The texts are in both Polish and English. There are a few places where the translation is not the smoothest, but his overall points come through.

Poland, by Tomasz Wiech. Published by Self Published, 2012.

The book is an interpretation of a homeland rather than a book representing a specific road trip. Wiech takes a moment to capture a deflated Santa Claus on a lot of Christmas trees, or a flea market on the grounds of a large statue of Jesus, and makes a statement about his life today. It is not all doom and gloom. The color images offer glimmers of hope and humor in spots. Nothing brings a smile like a large parrot corralled with a camel and dog. In another photograph a dinosaur keeps watch over a traffic circle.

Poland, by Tomasz Wiech. Published by Self Published, 2012.

In the last text entry in the book, Olszewski writes about how they look for the boring. He goes on to state, "Boredom is the most interesting thing that can happen." In a lot of ways the scenes in this book are boring in first glance. It has become a hallmark of contemporary socio-landscape photography. The boring scene forces the viewer to look at the scene and discover it on their own. Wiech masterfully collected these boring diamonds in this book.—TOM LEININGER

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by Sputnik Photos.

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TOM LEININGER is a photographer and educator based in North Texas. More of his work can be found on his website.

The website HooplaHa has produced this great video of Photographer's Showcase artist Ernie Button creating a photograph for part of his Cerealism series. Some of Button's images from this series can also be seen at The Camerawork Gallery in Portland. The exhibition runs through February 22nd. See the photo-eye Blog post on Button's Vanishing Spirits portfolio here

View Ernie Button's Cerealism and Vanishing Spirits portfolios

The Clairtone -- sculpture by David Trautrimas

A selection of sculptures by David Trautrimas opens tonight at 6pm at The Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. The exhibit entitled True North includes work from Trautrimas' One Empire Wide series of "scale model ice fishing huts based on failed or abandoned aspects of Canadian culture." Trautrimas' photographic work is also heavy with sculptural elements, featuring strange buildings constructed from appliance parts. View Trautrimas' work here.

Trautrimas' work was also published as a limited edition book by photo-eye Editions. View the book Habitat Machines

Brianna, Winchester MA 2009 -- Rania Matar

Photographer's Showcase artist Rania Matar's A Girl and Her Room series is currently featured in M Le Magazine du Monde. In French, the article can be found here. Her work can also be seen on exhibit world wide. Matar's series Ordinary Lives can be viewed for another few days at the Sana Gallery in Singapore (read an article on the exhibition here). A Girl and Her Room is currently on exhibit at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany through February 28th and at Dana Gallery in Wellesley Massachusetts through February 8th.


View Rania Matar's A Girl and Her Room series and the recently updated L'Enfant-Femme portfolio

Matar's book A Girl and Her Room, was recently selected as a Best Book of 2012 by Colin Pantall, Svetlana Bachevanova, and PDN Editors
Read the photo-eye Blog interview on A Girl and Her Room with Matar
Read the review of A Girl and Her Room by Karen Jenkins

Photographer's Showcase artist Lydia Panas will be lecturing at the International Center of Photography in New York on Wednesday, January 30th at 7pm. Tickets for the Photographer's Lecture Series, as well as the full schedule, can be found here.

View Lydia Panas' portfolio on the Photographer's Showcase
Read the interview with Panas
Read Faye Robson's review of The Mark of Abel

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Agroperifèrics. Photographs by Ignasi Lopez, 
Published by B Side Books, 2012.

Agroperifèrics
Reviewed by Adam Bell

Agroperifèrics
Photographs by Ignasi Lopez.
B Side Books, 2012. Hardbound. 60 pp., illustrated throughout, 10-1/4x13-1/4".

Gardens have a long and fascinating history. As transformed landscapes, gardens just as often provide nourishment as they do manicured sites of contemplation. Eschewing the fantasy of the bucolic family farm or the sublime horrors of corporate agriculture, the beautifully produced and designed Agroperifèrics by Ignasi Lopez explores the makeshift landscape of urban allotments. Translated loosely from Spanish, the title means 'peripheral gardens' or agriculture. Focused on reclaimed urban gardens on the outskirts of Barcelona, the book is equal parts field project and typology of urban agriculture, but in the end it’s an affectionate document of ingenuity and resolve.

While clearly agricultural landscapes, the true subjects of Lopez's book are the often haphazardly constructed structures that support and make possible the land's ongoing transformation. In one image, reclaimed skis function as fence posts, in another, oil drums serve as compost containers, and in yet another, concrete blocks form irrigation ditches. Crudely built sheds share space with overhanging tarps and rusted bed-frames. Holding plants in place or piping in much needed water, topes and hoses cut and snake through frame. In the face of urban constraints, as well as the looming shadow of modern agriculture, the men and women behind these spaces have transformed the landscape through sweat, pluck and determination. The images are a tribute to their hard work.

Agroperifèrics, by Ignasi Lopez. Published by B Side Books, 2012.

Although there are other precedents, the work most closely resembles that of the German photographer Simone Nieweg. Lesser-known than some of her Becher-trained colleagues, Nieweg's work also explores the agricultural landscape. Nieweg and Lopez share affection for the plants, soil, compost heaps, gates, irrigation channels and makeshift shelters that populate their pictures. They also have a keen eye for the often-alien seeming landscape of agriculture. At a time when most school children, and even adults, have a hard time identifying a vegetable in its native habit, this may be an easy task, but it is no less startling. Both artists turn a cool but romantic eye to the altered landscape. Quietly reverential, Lopez's images seem to constantly marvel at the strange and surprising ways in which people can do so much with so little.

Agroperifèrics, by Ignasi Lopez. Published by B Side Books, 2012.

Agroperifèrics, by Ignasi Lopez. Published by B Side Books, 2012.

While the human hand is visible through the images, the book is almost entirely free of people. In a single sardonic gesture, one of the book's sole figures, an older man with his back turned to us, wears a shirt emblazoned with the logo – URALITA, the book's unwilling corporate sponsor. This logo also appears on the shirt of a crude scarecrow later in the book. A large Spanish multi-national, Uralita manufactures construction material – undoubtedly used widely in both urban and agricultural structures. Just as Uralita's shirts have been repurposed for scarecrows or as a man's work shirt, the recycled and reclaimed materials, perhaps coming from the same company, are given a new life that belies their sleek intended purpose.

The book itself is a beautifully designed, hand-stitched object. Created by the relatively new publisher, B side Books, where Lopez is also co-editor, each volume is numbered and signed in an edition of 411. The varied image size and layout give the book a nice rhythm and pacing. Small images are paired with large, full-bleed images with smaller images. The backside of the book has a vertical cardboard bellyband with a small oblong pamphlet tucked underneath. In addition to a brief text by Lopez, the pamphlet also contains a text by Joan Nogué.

Agroperifèrics, by Ignasi Lopez. Published by B Side Books, 2012.

Agroperifèrics, by Ignasi Lopez. Published by B Side Books, 2012.

In his artist statement, Lopez calls these spaces "constructed paradises." The phrase succinctly acknowledges both the long history of gardens, but also the social and cultural significance of such human-made spaces. A hardy and determined breed, urban gardeners are unlikely candidates to build paradise. It takes quixotic resolve and messianic belief to transform what was once hard concrete into fertile soil, to fight the encroaching weeds, concrete and municipal overreach. Under constant threat from urban renewal and expansion, gardens are often the first spaces to be sacrificed. As land is increasingly monetized and maximized in tight urban spaces, gardens often make way for condos. In order to return each day, month or year, one must believe in the possibility and reality of creating a paradise. Even if it's only something as simple as a stalk of kale or bushel of carrots, even if it means rebuilding it one recycled brick at a time, you return. After all, a paradise lies ahead.—ADAM BELL

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ADAM BELL is a photographer and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and his work has been exhibited and published internationally. He is the co-editor and co-author, with Charles H. Traub and Steve Heller, of The Education of a Photographer (Allworth Press, 2006). His writing has appeared in Foam Magazine, Afterimage, Lay Flat and Ahorn Magazine. He is currently on staff and faculty at the School of Visual Arts' MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department. His website and blog are adambbell.com and adambellphoto.blogspot.com.

In video #10 of our In-Print Photobook series, Erin Azouz shares with us History of Monuments published by Editions Bessard.


In-Print Photobook Video #10: History of Monuments by Wang Qingsong from photo-eye

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Distant Place. Photographs by Agnieszka Rayss, Jan Brykczynski, 
Adam Panczuk, Michal Luczak & Rafal Milach.
Published by Copernicus Science Centre, 2012.

Distant Place

Reviewed by Christopher Johnson

Distant Place
Photographs by Agnieszka Rayss, Jan Brykczynski, Adam Panczuk, Michal Luczak & Rafal Milach.
Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw, 2012. Five softcover books in box. 197 pp., black & white and color illustrations, 11-1/2x9-1/2".

Distant Place is an attempt by five photographers of the Sputnik Photo collective to bring attention back to the Vistula river in Warsaw. This attempt was aimed at the local Polish citizenry by the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw who contacted Sputnik as well as a handful of writers in order to document and celebrate a natural resource that had fallen into disuse. The Vistula river, just to ruminate for a moment on this collection's star model, had once been a source of industry and travel for the inhabitants of Warsaw but, in recent decades its uses were subverted by new technology and the river was abandoned not only as a source of industry but, also as a source of natural beauty and local festivity.

The photographs represented in this collection undoubtedly capture something of that natural beauty, but they go well beyond that as well. The photographers add to the surroundings of their photos something of the people who inhabit the forgotten river, and the tools that were left behind as well as the industry it still inspires (however gruesome that industry might be).

Distant Place, by Agnieszka Rayss, Jan Brykczynski, Adam Panczuk, Michal Luczak & Rafal Milach. Published by Copernicus Science Centre, 2012.

In the Collection entitled "About the Man Who Jumped Off a Bridge" by Rafal Milach, we are given a haunting collection of images of river trawling police whose job it is to continuously bring up the bodies of the drowned. Their work is documented from different angles; at one point we see them before a broken hole in the ice and, at another, we become privy to the little knick-knacks taken from the pockets and bodies of their patrons. These pictures darken the mind with grizzly possibilities and make a ripe metaphor for the river itself as a forgotten body submerged in the past. This particular collection is enriched with a macabre play included in the anthology's materials.

Distant Place, by Agnieszka Rayss, Jan Brykczynski, Adam Panczuk, Michal Luczak & Rafal Milach. Published by Copernicus Science Centre, 2012.

In "Sudio Wista," a collection by Adam Panczuk, we are introduced to the inhabitants of Warsaw who still make pilgrimage to the Vistula. These photos are elegant and well framed. Panczuk brings out the beauty both of the river itself and the acolytes who pay it homage. Every individual who falls under his lens seems nourished by the river, healthy in their lives and, in one excellent photograph, their vocation. It is a startling revivification after encountering Milach's collection or "Ecosystems," the collection by Michal Luczak that deals with the homeless who have made the river their home.

Distant Place, by Agnieszka Rayss, Jan Brykczynski, Adam Panczuk, Michal Luczak & Rafal Milach. Published by Copernicus Science Centre, 2012.

"Mission Completed" by Jan Brykczynski is far and away my favorite collection in the anthology. It takes for its subject matter the forgotten industries of the river. We see dilapidated boats and abandoned work fronts as well as a few people who still cling to the river's old ways. These photos are washed out by snow and an eeriness of open space rather than by any photographic process. Each one of these photos is startling as they place attention on the river's long but abruptly upended industrious history. They represent the strange high art of landscape, infusing natural settings with the human drama to heighten their emotional productivity.

Distant Place, by Agnieszka Rayss, Jan Brykczynski, Adam Panczuk, Michal Luczak & Rafal Milach. Published by Copernicus Science Centre, 2012.

The whole collection is made up of eight separate booklets and pieces contained in a smart looking box. This style of presentation is becoming more and more common whether we encounter it in Pau Wau Press' limited edition photographic anthologies like Muses or Chris Ware's massively popular Building Stories and, as far as this type of display goes, Distant Place is a solid gold winner. Did I mention supplementary literature? I did, but if you missed it; Distant Place comes with interviews from the Sputnik collective, a few stories, a play and a poem. This collection is one of the finest that I have encountered and its socio-political aim is genuine and to be admired.—CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by Melanie McWhorter

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CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON is originally from Madison Wisconsin. He came to Santa Fe in 2002 and graduated from the College of Santa Fe majoring in English with an emphasis in poetry.

Here are three new arrivals under $30 – great little photobooks to add to your collection. Mountain Shadow Place is an inspired road trip journal, Motherland Issue 7 is a collection of stories and photographic essays about all things paranormal and Antikira is an inviting look at the small coastal town in Greece. This is the third post in the series of Great Little Photobooks Under $30 – some books are still available from the first and second installments.

Mountain Shadow Place by Nicholas Muellner

Mountain Shadow Place – Nicholas Muellner – $25 (signed)
Mountain Shadow Place is a documentation of a road trip from Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota from photographer Nicholas Muellner. We experience the rich beauty of these places through Muellner's sophisticated, visually-descriptive narration, while the photographs depict them as banal tourist destinations, marred by human intervention. The tension between the natural landscape and our innate urge to exploit it is captured perfectly by Muellner, making this unsuspecting little book quite powerful. This softbound, signed monograph, limited to 100 copies, contains six digital offset and screen-printed photographs, two of which also come as poster inserts.

Motherland Issue 7 – Motherland

Motherland Issue 7 – Motherland – $10.50
The Motherland publication carries a strong, focused curation of articles and photography about a single topic in each of its issues. In Motherland Issue 7, the editors focus on all things paranormal — ghosts, spirits and other supernatural phenomena, as well as related topics of faith and belief. The issue contains photographs of talismans used in ceremonial exorcisms, stories and photographs of haunted houses, a fashion spread inspired by horror films and a poignant political piece about a scam in northern India cheating people out of their land rights by claiming they have passed away.

Antikira – Kristof Guez

Antikira – Kristof Guez – $25
Antikyra is a small coastal town in central Greece seated on the Mediterranean Sea. Photographer Kristof Guez spent summer holidays there as a child, and in this lovely monograph, he returns to photograph Antikyra. The past is often idealized in a young child's mind, and that tension seems to be the driving force behind his photographic investigation. Are the places of our past as we remember them today? Guez's photographs are palatable and inviting — most of them including the ocean or coastline. In Antikira, Guez has memorialized the place where his sense of beauty may have first developed in soft, stunning compositions. Small half and quarter pages are bound within the book that appear to be old family snapshots of his vacations to Antikyra as a small child.  –Erin Azouz

Left Behind. Photographs by Jonathan Hollingsworth.
Published by Dewi Lewis, 2012.

Left Behind

Reviewed by Joscelyn Jurich

Left Behind
Photographs by Jonathan Hollingsworth. Foreword by Gregory L. Hess MD.

Dewi Lewis, 2012. Hardbound. 112 pp., 75 color illustrations, 12x8-3/4".

A man unlocking a morgue door is the first image in Left Behind. The next is a two-page spread of bodies stacked one atop another in a morgue, one with a red tag attached by a string to the body bag zipper with "Doe, John" written on it in black marker. The final photograph shows two "Personal Effects" tags of individuals only identified as "John Doe."

Hollingsworth's provocative project permits the reader to enter a rarely seen world, the often deadly and anonymous world of border crossers. Every year, between 150-250 Mexican migrants die crossing from Mexico into Southern Arizona. The Arizona Human Remains Project, a grassroots human rights NGO, reports that between 2011-2012, the remains of 179 migrants were recovered. The vast majority were male and under the age of 40. Some of the remains were not intact enough for this basic information to be determined.

A short essay by Gregory Hess, Chief Medical Examiner of the Pima County Forensic Science Center in Tucson prefaces Hollingsworth's carefully structured visual narrative and clearly identifies its intention. "Let conversation cease. Let laughter flee. This is the place where death delights to help the living," wrote 18th century physician Giovanni Morgagni, who pioneered the field of pathological anatomy. His statement hangs in the offices of contemporary pathologists like Hess, who granted Hollingsworth access to the Center. "It reminds us of the purpose of investigating the dead," writes Hess. "To help the living." Like the physical bodily and personal remains of the deceased, photographs are documentary evidence. Hollingsworth's images of physical and personal remains of migrants who died on the Arizona-Mexico border, Hess writes, may be another way the dead can help the living.

Left Behind, by Jonathan Hollingsworth. Published by Dewi Lewis, 2012.

The book is divided into three distinct sections, like a triptych whose three panels portray the autopsy process, the documentary remains of the deceased and the exterior of the borderlands between Arizona and Mexico. Its first section is a visual guide to the recovery process. Hollingsworth brings the reader from the recovery van to the receiving room and into the autopsy room with stark individual shots of each space. Metal receiving room gurneys sit in the corner of a seemingly empty room, shot to emphasize the contrast between the gurneys' glistening legs and the dull, soiled floor on which they stand; an autopsy table is photographed to emphasize its functionality, in an attempt to reveal and demystify the post-mortem process. Perhaps the most jarring image in this section is not the photograph of skeletal remains resting on a white sheet, but a list of the vital organs in black capital letters pasted on an autopsy whiteboard, ostensibly a check-list for the examining pathologists. The clinical nature of these spaces is rendered only semi-intimately as Hollingsworth shoots to reveal essential detail but also to maintain a degree of distance.

Left Behind, by Jonathan Hollingsworth. Published by Dewi Lewis, 2012.

If the first images emphasize the repetitive and anonymous nature of the post-mortem, the book's central section reveals individual photographs of the "personal effects" of twenty-eight Hispanic migrants who died on the border. Combs, watches, multicolored cigarette lighters, family photographs, ornate and colorful saints' cards, one-dollar bills, two-dollar bills and identification cards are all photographed against a bare white background. The first photograph shows what are representative and repeated items in many of the images: a 100 peso bill; a $30 phone card; a macramé crucifix; the stub of a pencil; a wallet; some scraps of paper scrawled with names and phone numbers.

Left Behind, by Jonathan Hollingsworth. Published by Dewi Lewis, 2012.

Each deceased individual's personal remains are photographed separately, accompanied by descriptive text from the Pima County Forensic Center about the individual's gender, approximate age and ethnicity as well as information about how and where the deceased's body was found and the body's condition at the time of discovery. The text provides poignant and revealing details in juxtaposition with the individual's objects: the reader learns that a one-dollar bill, Bic lighter, Guess! wallet and a few scrawled phone numbers belonged to "Male, 20-35; Hispanic Latino; Not recognizable/Putrefaction." Several of the individuals are described as being mummified. These descriptions bring the reader into the experience of finding the deceased: "Pinal County deputies were flagged down by a female in distress and advised of the location of the deceased," reads one; another is just as disturbing: "Decedent found partially suspended by tree by shoelaces tied around neck." Hollingsworth understands the visceral power of simple factual information, both textual and visual, and uses them to potent effect.

Left Behind, by Jonathan Hollingsworth. Published by Dewi Lewis, 2012.

The book's last section brings the reader away from the interiors of autopsy rooms and individuals' stories and outside to the US border patrol in Nogales, Arizona and a common pick-up stop for migrants in Green Valley, Arizona. Hollingsworth's photographs of the landscape are the most powerful of the few images included, particularly the final photographs of Mesquite trees, flying vultures and the Pima County Indigent Cemetery, where the unidentified remains of migrants were buried with "John Doe" and "Jane Doe" markers (the county now cremates the remains).

Left Behind, by Jonathan Hollingsworth. Published by Dewi Lewis, 2012.

Hollingsworth concludes with his own thoughtful reflection about the process and intent of creating Left Behind, which is dedicated to the migrants who died trying to reach the US. "For those who die in the desert," he writes, "Pima County Forensic Science Center is their Ellis Island. It is through the cooler doors that they all pass, their belongings catalogued and their analyzed, each bearing a number instead of a name. But instead of some manifest destiny that the nation's dream is built upon, theirs is one of long, quiet waiting."—JOSCELYN JURICH

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by:
Jonathan Blaustein
Melanie McWhorter

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JOSCELYN JURICH is a freelance journalist and critic whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Bookforum, Publishers Weekly and the Village Voice.

Most Popular of All Time by By Gordon MacDonald & Clare Strand and The Father of Pop Dance by Tiane Doan na Champassak

I wanted to take some time to point out a few small books from out 2012 Best Books list that are definitely worth noting. They are both slim, well designed, and delightfully odd – and also hard to forget.

Most Popular of All Time isn’t exactly a photobook, but like the great History of Photography in Pen and Ink, renders well-known photographs in line drawings. The volume takes the form of a children’s activity book, though I wouldn’t exactly consider it a book for kids. Reduced to its most vital edges, each image features a connect the dots portion (trace the outline of Neil Armstrong on the moon or Albert Einstein’s tongue – or in more grim demonstration, the falling figure in Richard Drew’s iconic September 11th photograph or the executioner in Andy Adam’s 1968 Siagon photo), but it’s also a coloring book. The images included aren’t a textbook selection of important photographs from the 20th century, but were complied by surveying a number of online lists of the most popular photographs of all time. All of these photographs will be familiar to just about anyone, regardless of their knowledge of photo history. The images are so hugely iconic, that those who recognize them in this simplified form will likely not be able to detach them from a myriad of associations, whether historical, cultural or personal.

Most Popular of All Time by By Gordon MacDonald & Clare Strand

The book was created as an experimental collaboration between Gordon MacDonald and Clare Strand for Brighton Photo Fringe, of which MacDonald is trustee, and the activity pages were intended to be completed by the audience and hung as part of the exhibition. MacDonald and Strand describe their work as being “designed to encourage audience interrogation, promoting a reassessment of our relationship to photography.” I haven’t followed the numbers or colored in any of the pages, but simply viewing these images in this context, being forced to mentally fill in the blanks and feeling the texture of the paper made for crayons, was enough to make me look at and think about these images differently.

Most Popular of All Time by By Gordon MacDonald & Clare Strand

I was immediately taken by Tiane Doan na Champassak’s The Father of Pop Dance and was glad to see it on two Best Books lists this year. The small spiral bound book features a sequence of studio photographs found by Champassak of his father dancing. Made in Los Angeles in 1967, the images are beautifully characteristic of the time period, featuring multiple exposures, colored lights and a lovely array of patterned trousers, splashy shirts and festive neckwear. The reason these images were taken is unknown, and there's no indication of what music Champassak's father was dancing to -- but none of this matters. The book is full of light, movement and song. Paging through, my mind always seems to find a tune to accompany the images.

The Father of Pop Dance by Tiane Doan na Champassak

Like nearly every still image of a person dancing, the photographs don't completely escape an element of goofiness, but the elder Champassak's exuberance and enthusiasm make him completely charming. Discovered by Champassak in an attic, the photographs became stuck together during their storage, which caused small tears when they were pulled apart. These blemishes are reproduced in the book, barely noticeable in some places, but in others creating white interference that reflects a beautiful symmetry between the pages -- at times, Champassak's father seems to dance with his doubled self on the next page.  The book exudes an effortlessness that comes from thoughtful design. The tight spiral binding make it compact and fun to flip through, and the clear plastic used for the spiral leaves the book's title visible, printed at the edges of the pages. -- Sarah Bradley

The Father of Pop Dance by Tiane Doan na Champassak

The Most Popular of All Time was selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by Aaron Schuman.

Purchase here

The Father of Pop Dance was selected as one of the Best Books of 2012 by Aaron Schuman and Rémi Faucheux.

Purchase here

Gila. Photographs by Michael P. Berman.
Published by Museum of New Mexico Press, 2012.

Gila

Reviewed by David Ondrik

Gila
Photographs by Michael P. Berman
Museum Of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 2012. Hardbound.  100 duotone illustrations, 8x11".

Michael P. Berman's Gila is an homage to southwestern New Mexico's Gila Wilderness, and in the pages of this two volume book he shows his respect and dedication to New Mexico's first, largest, and last wilderness. This is the landscape in which Aldo Leopold realized that the United States was on a disastrous course in our treatment of the land and its inhabitants, and Leopold set out to create the first "do-not-disturb" zone: the Gila Wilderness. It is also Berman's home and stomping grounds, an area that is a major component of his photographic œuvre.

Gila is an amazing book, and if you're interested in conservation or nature photography you should pick it up immediately. But there are some things about the physical object, not the contents, that I object to. While it's clear that there was a great deal of effort put into selecting the materials the book is made of, the covers of both volumes are an uncoated white paper stock that is lovely to hold. It is also incredibly susceptible to picking up every speck of dirt and every not-as-clean-as-you-thought fingerprint. My copy (which I unwrapped from the shrink-wrap myself) was covered in little balls of glue from the slipcase. While I think there's a metaphoric connection between the fragile state of the Gila and the fragile state of the book cover for Gila, it's clear that it will take a serious effort to keep the book in decent shape.

Gila, by Michael P. Berman. Published by Museum Of New Mexico Press, 2012.

With that out of the way, the two volume set is delivered in a gorgeous slipcase that is wrapped with a reproduction of one of Berman's photographs and delicately embossed with the title and photographer's name. Volume I is titled Radical Visions and contains an introduction by Mary Anne Redding, former curator of photography at the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors; Berman's own artist statement; and an introduction from Berman's long-time collaborator, Charles Bowden. Rounding out the volume are essays by thirteen authors who have profound connections to the Gila. They illuminate what makes this slice of the world special to them, and the topics range from ancestral longing to scientific analysis, environmentalism to sportsmanship. Each essay is relatively short and eminently readable. It is clear from multiple writings that the Wilderness status of the Gila is under constant threat; the lure of the money to be made from extraction industries is a constant siren song, tempting local and national agencies to push against the established boundaries. Taken as a whole the essays make clear the diversity of individuals brought together and unified by their love for, and desire to preserve, the Gila. 

Gila, by Michael P. Berman. Published by Museum Of New Mexico Press, 2012.

Gila, by Michael P. Berman. Published by Museum Of New Mexico Press, 2012.

Volume II is titled The Enduring Silence and contains Berman's photographs. The austere white cover has a photograph tipped into an embossed depression in the bookboard. The photographs are black & white, printed duotone on a beautiful paper stock, and they look absolutely amazing. For those unfamiliar, Berman works in the tradition of nature photography that Ansel Adams founded: everything in the photographs is crisp and focused, the subjects poetic. Both artists limit direct evidence of human modification of the land. While for Adams this was often the result of omission, Berman is photographing in an area humans have (mostly) been prevented from manipulating. There are few roads, so I'm fairly certain that Berman was actually trekking through the Wilderness to make these photographs, rather than creating images within 20 feet of a roadway. Berman's images are steeped in both metaphor and documentary, without any of the melodrama that Adams favored in his subjects. Berman is willing to show the sweeping vistas, the flowing river, the dead animals, and the burned trees — the whole picture of a place. The photographs feel entirely contemporary, even though he's working with material and subjects that are the stuff of earliest photography. 

Gila, by Michael P. Berman. Published by Museum Of New Mexico Press, 2012.

It is clear that the creation of Gila was a labor of love for a circle of passionate collaborators. It offers an in-depth portrait of our country's oldest designated wilderness, and serves as an appeal to the reader, as well: to appreciate and protect this unique landscape.—DAVID ONDRIK

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DAVID ONDRIK has lived in Albuquerque since the late 1970s. He was introduced to photography in high school and quickly appropriated his father’s Canon A-1 so that he could pursue this exciting artistic medium. He received his BFA, with an emphasis in photography, from the University of New Mexico and has been involved in the medium ever since. Ondrik is also a National Teaching Board Certified high school art teacher.