On Abortion by
On Abortion is the first part of Laia Abril's new long-term project, A History of Misogyny. The work was first exhibited at Les Rencontres in Arles in 2016 and awarded the Prix de la Photo Madame Figaro and the Fotopress Grant. Abril documents and conceptualises the dangers and damage caused by women's lack of legal, safe and free access to abortion. She draws on the past to highlight the long, continuing erosion of women's reproductive rights through to the present-day, weaving together questions of ethics and morality, to reveal a staggering series of social triggers, stigmas, and taboos around abortion that have been largely invisible until now.
Robert Frank: the Americans by
First published in France in 1958, then the United States in 1959, Robert Frank's The Americans changed the course of twentieth-century photography. In eighty-three photographs, Frank looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal a people plagued by racism, ill-served by their politicians, and rendered numb by a rapidly expanding culture of consumption. Yet he also found novel areas of beauty in simple, overlooked corners of American life. And it was not just his subject matter - cars, jukeboxes, and even the road itself - that redefined the icons of America; it was also his seemingly intuitive, immediate, off-kilter style, as well as his method of brilliantly linking his photographs together thematically, conceptually, formally, and linguistically, that made The Americans so innovative. More of an ode or a poem than a literal document, the book is as powerful and provocative today as it was fifty-five years ago.
Kazuma Obara: Silent Histories by
The postwar "Japanese economic miracle" took place in the wake of incredible destruction--indiscriminate bombing by US forces during the Second World War had destroyed millions of homes, killed 330,000 Japanese citizens and injured 430,000 others. Children wounded in the war were an uncomfortable reminder of the devastation, and many chose lives of secrecy and concealment, continuing to silently struggle with their injuries and disabilities as adults. Photographer Kazuma Obara (born 1985) sheds light on these "silent histories" with a collection of sensitive portraits of six survivors interspersed with historical and personal material, including school photographs, views of Japanese cities in 1945, personal snapshots and government-issued disability cards. A powerful and moving document, Kazuma Obara: Silent Histories was originally published in a limited edition of 45 handmade copies, and is now available for the first time in a trade edition.
The Photobook: A History Vol I by
Volume 1 of a comprehensive illustrated history of the photo book.
The Photobook: a History Volume II by
This book provides a unique perspective on the story of photography through the particular history of the photobook. The second of two extensive volumes, it completes Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's study of the major trends and movements that have shaped the photobook genre since the birth of photography. It represents a valuable catalogue of rare and important photobooks. This volume continues where Volume 1 left off by bringing the story of the photobook fully up to date.
The Photobook: a History Volume III by
The third volume in an authoritative and comprehensive series, The Photobook: A History volume III provides a unique perspective on the story of contemporary photography through the genre of the photobook. Continuing in the vein of the first two volumes, Volume III is a study of the major trends and movements that have shaped the photobook genre globally since the birth of photography in the early nineteenth century. Volume III pays particular attention to photobooks published after World War II, covering contemporary themes of modern life, from diaristic photography of place and people to twentieth-century propaganda books and some of the finest works to emerge from the recent self-publishing boom. The Photobook volumes represent a valuable catalogue of rare and important photobooks, and since Phaidon published Volume I in 2004, are now regarded by academics, students and photobook bibliophiles as the definitive works on this subject.
