Book Review Stranger By Olivia Arthur Reviewed by Adam Bell From a distance, Dubai seems to be an oxymoron — a city of opulent wealth surrounded by barren desert. Built and sustained by oil, it is a playground for the rich and an economic prison for the thousands of migrant workers who build and maintain its gleaming façade. Travelling from China and South Asia, they come to the city seeking a better life for themselves and their families, but often end up working for low wages in stifling heat, and live in work camps far from the luxurious city center.

Stranger. Photographs by Olivia Arthur. 
Fishbar Books, 2015.

 

Stranger

Reviewed by Adam Bell

Stranger
By Olivia Arthur
Fishbar Books, London, UK, 2015. 224 pp., 7¾x10¼x6".

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Colin Pantall

From a distance, Dubai seems to be an oxymoron — a city of opulent wealth surrounded by barren desert. Built and sustained by oil, it is a playground for the rich and an economic prison for the thousands of migrant workers who build and maintain its gleaming façade. Travelling from China and South Asia, they come to the city seeking a better life for themselves and their families, but often end up working for low wages in stifling heat, and live in work camps far from the luxurious city center. In 1961, tragedy struck a group of migrants travelling to the city from Pakistan and India. Their boat sank off the coast and 238 people drown. This tragic event forms the heart and narrative thread of Olivia Arthur’s new book Stranger, which imagines a survivor returning to the city roughly fifty-years later. Combining her own images with archival pictures and text, Stranger explores the complex present through the lingering tragedy of the past. Avoiding the obvious ironies of the city, while also navigating the challenges of representing the unknowable other, Arthur offers an imaginative entry into the complexities of Dubai that is compelling and emotionally nuanced.

Best Books of 2015 Best Books of 2015: Reviews A selection of reviews of 2015 Best Book picks.

Songbook
By Alec Soth
Mack

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by:
Aaron Schuman
Ed Templeton
Jeffrey Ladd
John Gossage
Martin Parr

"The crucial shift from LBM Dispatches to Songbook — and the primary reason I consider it a landmark monograph — is that the photos are stripped of their accompanying stories. Zellar was a symbiotic part of the original team. But he's been axed and the work thus transformed. It's not necessarily better but it is radically different… With no text, the complete weight of meaning falls on the photographs. The reader can guess the context, and might even guess correctly, but most of the photos remain deliberately ambiguous. A few are downright bizarre. The reader is faced with unresolved images and forced to respond only visually. That's the zen prick heart of photography and the core strength of this book."—from the review by Blake Andrews

Book Review Wild & Precious By Jesse Burke Reviewed by George Slade As the father of two daughters I admire the activities and the relationship Jesse Burke has fostered in life and chronicled in photographed. I also respect Burke for his personal engagement with wilderness. This devotion makes it easier for him to nurture an appreciation of nature in his children (one, Clover, who is featured in Wild & Precious, and two other daughters).

Wild and Precious. By Jesse Burke. 
Daylight Books, 2015.

 

Wild and Precious
Reviewed by George Slade

Wild and Precious
Photographs by Jesse Burke
Daylight Books, Hillsborough, USA, 2015. In English. 128 pp., 60 color illustrations, 13x9". 

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Melanie McWhorter

As the father of two daughters I admire the activities and the relationship Jesse Burke has fostered in life and chronicled in photographed. I also respect Burke for his personal engagement with wilderness. This devotion makes it easier for him to nurture an appreciation of nature in his children (one, Clover, who is featured in Wild & Precious, and two other daughters). Despite our convention of referring to Earth as mother, and apart from the occasional Cheryl Strayed, Sacagawea, or Dorothy Molter (the last non-indigenous resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota, also known as the Root Beer Lady), there are relatively few female role models in the wild. Girls should be at home in the wilderness, no less so than boys.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 photo-eye’s annual survey of the year’s best photobooks as chosen by 24 notables from the art photo world.

We are delighted to present photo-eye’s Best Books of 2015. As in the last six years, photo-eye asked photobook lovers from across the world to share their favorite books of the year. Our contributors for 2015 are:

10x10 Photobooks Gerry Badger Daniel Boetker-Smith Sarah Bradley David Campany Alejandro Cartagena Rémi Coignet John Gossage Yumi Goto Hans Gremmen Christopher J. Johnson Erik Kessels

Jeffrey Ladd Little Brown Mushroom Melanie McWhorter Kevin Messina Rafal Milach Colin Pantall Martin Parr John Phelan Thomas Sauvin Aaron Schuman Miwa Susuda Ed Templeton

Since 2009, photo-eye’s Best Books feature has been comprised of lists from multiple contributors. In recent years multi-contributor lists appear in an increasing number of venues. At photo-eye, Best Books is not about achieving an authoritative overview. In fact, we're confident in saying no one assembling a multi-contributor year-end best photobook list could possibly expect to meet this goal — it would be antithetical to such a project to begin with. But while the expansion of voices dilutes the concept of arbiters, it better reflects our topic — the varied, expanding and unpredictable world of photobooks, too vast for any one expert to command.

Below you’ll find a list of well-loved photobooks published within the last year, give or take a few months. Each bears the recommendation of someone who has seen a lot of photobooks, thought about them and decided to share what they personally liked. While writing this introduction I looked back on our first multi-contributor list in 2009. Its introduction is short and true of this list as well: “The range of books selected... is vast — spanning continents and genres, and together they form a powerful survey of contemporary photography. Since our very format denies the idea of an over-arching and objective top 10, below you'll find a more modest ‘master list,’ made up of the books that appear on at least three individual lists.”

We hope you enjoy exploring the over 150 titles that make up the 2015 lists. You'll find our top 17 picks of 2015 below. Individual lists can be reached by clicking on each contributor's name.

—Sarah Bradley, Editor of photo-eye Blog

Moisés By Mariela Sancari La Fabrica 7 Selections: 10x10 Photobooks Daniel Boetker-Smith Sarah Bradley Alejandro Cartagena Erik Kessels Colin Pantall Thomas Sauvin

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 10x10 Photobooks 2015 Best Books picks from Matthew Carson, Russet Lederman and Olga Yatskevich of 10x10 Photobooks.

Ring in the holiday cheer with photobooks by women. As 10x10 started brainstorming on a “Best of List,” we were struck by how many really great photobooks are being made by the bloke-esses (as our British 10x10 colleague would say). Here’s to a Ladies Only list!

Entartete By Rita Lino Editions du LIC Entartete is an archive of Lino’s exceptionally expressive self-portraits taken over the past decade. They are provocative, raw and feminine. She shares with the viewer her self-analysis and vulnerability, yet remains mysterious and elusive.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Gerry Badger 2015 Best Books picks from Gerry Badger.

Fire in Cairo By Matthew Connors SPBH Editions Fire in Cairo weaves Connors’ trademark street portraits with urban landscapes that catch the chaos, excitement, despair and hope of the recent Egyptian Revolution in a particularly oblique and poetic way.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Daniel Boetker-Smith 2015 Best Books picks from Daniel Boetker-Smith.

Anna Konda By Katarzyna Mazur dienacht Publishing Dienacht’s Calin Kruse is a unique voice in photobook publishing. The rigorous process he goes through with each of his books is evident in the range and originality of the objects he produces, each one somehow pitched perfectly to the subject matter that it contains. This project, documenting the Female Fight Club in Berlin, is no exception. The Female Fight Club is a private and unique club, set up by two fighters, Anna Konda and Red Devil, seeking to revive the female wrestling tradition that dates back to the Berlin of the Golden Twenties. Mazur’s images and Kruse’s treatment of them is pared back, visceral, and physical, enhanced by the flesh-colored paper that the black and white images are printed on. Mazur’s images have an erotic flavor that fetishize the blood, sweat and scratches on the wrestler’s bodies, and at times the skin of the subjects somehow fuse with the surface of the paper, making for a unique experience with the book in your hands. The construction and space of the book allows the images to breathe and gives the action in the photographs the room to play out before you. As with most of the books in my list, the simplicity of the work and the restraint of the book production all combine to generate an original experience.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Sarah Bradley 2015 Best Books picks from Sarah Bradley.

Prophet By Geert Goiris Roma Prophet gives us a world that is entirely recognizable yet disruptively foreign. The images are suggestive of a narrative without guides, fragments of moving time and action made still, frozen in darkness and a flash of light.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 David Campany 2015 Best Books picks from David Campany

These days, writers are too often seen as "endorsers." I don’t endorse these books but they are the ones I’ve enjoyed, savored and puzzled over recently.

Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe: A Biography By Philip Gefter Liveright Before the triumph of the market, photography collectors were a whole different breed. In fact, they weren’t a breed at all, just a bunch of one-offs. Philip Gefter’s biography of Sam Wagstaff is a breath of fresh air from another era. It’s all here: the crazed visual and sexual appetite, curiosity and narcissism, social swirl and the end of a very different age.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Alejandro Cartagena 2015 Best Books picks from Alejandro Cartagena.

Norilsk By Alexander Gronsky The Velvet Cell In Alexander Gronsky's new book he shows us once again what he does best: landscapes. It was a breath of fresh air to open this simple set of mesmerizing vistas of a place. Don't get me wrong, these are not just romantic (suffered) views; there is a story of despair and over exploitation of the land but we are left to figure that out by ourselves. Maybe we are given hints that these landscapes are not all well by the decision of placing all images through the gutter of the book. Everything is broken from start to finish. A book of great images, beautifully printed in a perfect size.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Rémi Coignet 2015 Best Books picks from Rémi Coignet.

Los ultimos dias vistos del rey By Julián Barón Self-Published In 1975, two propaganda books were released in Spain: Los ultimos dias de Franco vistos en TVE and Los primeros dias del rey vistos en TVE, both comprising TV screen shots. On the occasion of the abdication of Juan Carlos in favor of Felipe VI, Julián Barón used a similar format, but turned the propaganda book into a protest book against the scandal-ridden Spanish Monarchy.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 John Gossage 2015 Best Books picks from John Gossage.

Bottom of the Lake By Christian Patterson Koenig Books Christian has always played in his books with the difference between context and the exactness of his pictures. This time a bit more context than the last (Redheaded Peckerwood), brilliantly beating the second book curse.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Yumi Goto 2015 Best Books picks from Yumi Goto.

Here is my selection of the 10 best photobooks of 2015. This list composes what I consider to be great books, not only because they entail long-term research and in-depth investigation, but also because they challenge typical design and format. The audience can interact with the visual story narratives in these books, which also gives new voice to people and events through history and its consequences. The books not only have the value of great perspective, but they also show a new way of looking. They make us realize the new value of archival works created by photography legends.

Bottom Ash Observatory By Christien Meindertsma & Mathijs Labadie Thomas Eyck

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Hans Gremmen 2015 Best Books picks from Hans Gremmen.

Imperial Courts: 1993-2015 By Dana Lixenberg Roma Publications One of the most impressive and engaging bodies of work I have seen in the past years. Imperial Courts is a monument. Brought together and edited in a brilliant way: the book seems to follow a clear structure, but as the community itself, it is never dogmatic; it is alive, evolving and full of unexpected encounters.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Christopher J. Johnson 2015 Best Books picks from Christopher J. Johnson.

Revealing New York’s Other Half: A Complete Catalogue of his Photographs By Jacob A. Riis Yale University Press The best thing that art can do is to humanize otherwise unknown experiences by putting us in the place or awareness of others. Jacob A. Riis had that power and his book How The Other Half Lives did nothing short of change the world. This catalogue allows us the fullest experience of his work; it allows us the experience of others.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Erik Kessels 2015 Best Books picks from Erik Kessels.

Compositions By Jochen Lempert Walther Koenig Lempert is to me one of the most interesting photographers in Europe at the moment. You can really feel his background as a biologist in his work. His approach to composition and use of textures is breathtaking. His work is very natural but also manages to create a new, previously unseen aesthetic.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Jeffrey Ladd 2015 Best Books picks from Jeffrey Ladd.

Imponderable: The Archives of Tony Oursler By Tony Oursler JRP|Ringier Brilliant book of over 2500 objects and pieces of ephemera relating to: the occult, spiritualism, magic, the paranormal, sleight of hand, and religious cults — amassed and presented by the multimedia and installation artist Tony Oursler.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Little Brown Mushroom 2015 Best Books picks from Little Brown Mushroom.

Diary By Boris Mikhailov Walter Koenig When I think of Boris Mikhailov, I picture a bow-hunter in face paint and loincloth. Mikhailov has always been more interested in the hunt than in artful taxidermy. His newest book, Diary, is a thrilling reminder of how long Mikahilov has stayed out in the woods.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Melanie McWhorter 2015 Best Books picks from Melanie McWhorter.

Bottom Ash Observatory By Mathijs Labadie Thomas Eyck This oversized book is a document of conceptual cataloguing work by artist and designer Christien Meindertsma and photographer Mathijs Labadie of the raw materials and by-products of a municipal waste plant. The book provides a scientific, cultural and artistic inquiry into the final story of our raw and consumer materials through a full diagram of the incinerator, exterior landscape images, and the details of the burned materials shot on stark white backgrounds. This description makes the final product sound quite lackluster, but the slightly oversized, well-conceived object is one to behold.

Best Books 2015 Best Books 2015 Kevin Messina 2015 Best Books picks from Kevin Messina.

LDN EI By Anthony Cairns Self-Published This entire production is genius. The e-ink display on these recycled ebook readers turned out to be the perfect means of reproducing the images from all the books in Cairns' LDN series. I almost never buy special editions, but in terms of content alone, this one is so worth it.