2018 Favorite Photobooks — Day 5
This year we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of our renowned listing of the year's best photobooks. To mark this milestone, we've decided to do something a bit different. We've asked 88 internationally recognized luminaries from the photobook world to choose their favorite photobook of the year. Their favorite book could be unforgettable for any number of reasons but the chosen books affected our selectors on a very personal level. These books led each of our contributors to conclude, "If there's one book not to miss this year, it would be this!"
Each day for the following two weeks we will publish additional titles selected by our distinguished group of photobook lovers. Subscribe to PhotoBookDaily to get our email announcements in advance!
Check back daily to see a new group of favorite books!
Melanie McWhorter's Favorite
Photographs by Matthew Genitempo
"Jasper opens with a poem by Frank Wright that begins to describe what Genitempo has captured in his photographs and the designers in this book: “there is another world.” This book is near perfect."
Terri Weifenbach's Favorite
Photographs by Raymond Meeks
"It seems to me that a true signifier of a work of art is its power to suggest more than any words surrounding it can describe. Halfstory Halflife with its restless corporeal forms and surrounding notes has this intelligence, one that is not limited to thought."
Jonathan Blaustein's Favorite
Photographs, illustrations, design, and text by Alice Garret-Jones
"2018 is one of those years that I'll be glad to see go come December 31st. The absolute insanity that has plagued America in particular, and global geo-politics in general, feels overwhelming, and in my opinion is best countered with a healthy dose of absurdity."
Tamara Shopsin's Favorite
Edited by Jason Fulford
"Der Greif asks photographers to submit their photos with the caveat that an editor can use the images any which way. It seems batshit crazy and brave to let someone run wild with your photos, but I’m glad they did."
Michael Schmelling's Favorite
Edited by Guadalupe Rosales
"Looking back on the train-wreck that was social media in 2018, it may be comforting to point out a few bright spots — one of those being the community-sourced photo archives of Guadalupe Rosales: Veteranas and Rucas, and Map Pointz, both of which started as Instagram accounts."
Anouk Kruithof's Favorite
Photographs by Michael Etzensperger
"The world is a messed up place; why are we still wearing masks? Do we want to hide our true identity? Old masks are like magical entities from the past: strongly used in many traditions, spiritual ceremonies, and celebrations. Now we live in a time where our online persona can become a mask in itself, we’re somewhat lost in the truth about masks and the comfort a metaphorical mask gives us to provide us safety."