According to renowned photographer Martin Parr, the photobook is the “supreme platform” for photographers to get their work in front of a mass audience. The process of curation and editing allows creatives to tell stories and craft narratives with context. Physical publications give people, including those who live far from galleries and museums, the chance to hold a piece of art in their hands, leaf through the pages, or return to a favourite image again and again. These five new photobooks present works by renowned names from fresh perspectives. Mark Cohen’s Tall Socks has existed only as negatives until now, whilst Jonathan Becker’s Lost Time brings together decades of awe-inspiring portraiture. Elsewhere, András Ladocsi and Chris Donovan explore their own complex relationships with their hometowns and countries. Project a Black Planet takes a global perspective, considering how the Pan-African movement has shaped contemporary art. Each of them is a glimpse into how photography is a means to say something vital about the modern world.
The Canadian coastal city of Saint John, New Brunswick, is home to the nation’s largest oil refinery, which processes 320,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is home to one of the country’s wealthiest families, but also reports high rates of child poverty. In 2014, photographer Chris Donovan began documenting the city and its residents. Inspiration came from Donovan’s first job as a photographer at the Telegraph-Journal, a local paper which, at the time, was published by Brunswick News Inc and owned by the Irving family – one of the richest in Canada. He quickly realised that the news outlet was censoring stories of events like oil leaks and community evacuations. These experiences made him increasingly aware of the realities of environmental classism and ecological injustices in the city. “This book is my protest. This book is my refusal to be silent about environmental classism and the crimes of the ruling class. It is also my love letter to the city of Saint John, a magical city that, despite its difficulties, I genuinely believe to be full of beauty, hope, perseverance, truth and love.”
Hungarian photographer András Ladocsi was a competitive swimmer for 14 years, often training twice a day. The experience of being a sportsperson – and the heightened and intuitive understanding of physicality and movement that comes with it – has informed his art ever since. The motif of water runs throughout There is a Big River…, and is used as a metaphor for the interrelation between all living things. The publication is a personal and tender examination of how people interact with the world, and throughout Ladocsi seeks to challenge generational anxiety in men about showing emotion. In the book, a cast of diverse characters tumbles throughout the pages with bodies either entwined, contorted, balanced, cropped or at repose, all captured from unconventional angles. The photographer said: “I want to bring to light the intensity and resilience of the human spirit, captured in the moments where we are pushing our bodies and minds to reach our highest potential. Ultimately, my work is a celebration of life and the interconnectivity of our shared existence.”
In July 1973, photographer Mark Cohen spent a month living in a dorm room at New York University, whilsttaking part in a film production workshop. His daily classes were short, so he used his free time to walk around the city with his camera. Only a few of the images were printed and the vast majority remained unseen, except as negatives. Now, they are published for the first time in Tall Socks. The pictures are evidence of a city with two sides. 1970s New York was notorious for high crime rates and social disorder. Economic stagnation had hit the city hard and many of the middle-class residents had left for the suburbs. Cohen’s images of graffitied subway carriages and littered streets are evidence of this. There is an undercurrent of threat – the glare of a stranger and menacing subway stations – but also humour and joy found in a child’s socks, a lady with peacock feathers or a girl carrying a plank of wood across a cobblestoned street. There is no sequence or narrative to this book. Instead, readers feel as though they are following in the artist’s footsteps around the streets of this endlessly fascinating city.
Fran Lebowitz. Jean-Michel Basquiat. John F. Kennedy Jr. King Charles III. Madonna. Nicola Kidman. Tom Cruise. If you were to name someone of influence from the past four decades, be that in art, film, music or politics, the chances are that Jonathan Becker has photographed them. The lens-based artist is responsible for many of the most iconic late-20th century portraits. Becker is a protégé of legendary Parisian photographer Brassaï, and a longtime contributor to Vanity Fair. As such, his oeuvre provides a link between fine art and social observation. Lost Time is the culmination of a life’s work, and is the first retrospective monograph to chronicle this particular visual storyteller. This stunning collection presents more than 200 images from across Becker’s career, both commissioned and personal, that chart his journeys in New York, Paris, London and Buenos Aires from the 1970s to the 2010s.
The term Pan-Africanism encompasses various movements that are working towards a shared goal: “the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent.” Project a Black Planet is an expansive study of how Pan-Africanist art embodies these principles and global ambitions. The volume features almost 200 artists, including Alma Thomas, Beauford Delaney, Ernest Mancoba, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Simone Leigh and Zanele Muholi. Sudanese painter El-Salahi combines traditional forms of Islamic calligraphy with contemporary artworks, whilst Beauford Delaney is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s. In more recent years, Zanele Muholi has become one of the most celebrated photographers working today, producing portraits which document and celebrate the lives of South Africa’s Black LGBTQIA+ communities. Together, these creatives form a comprehensive portrait of Pan-Africanism’s diverse and expansive reach.
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
White Purse, 1973. © Mark Cohen.
Image © Chris Donovan.
Image © András Ladocsi.
People in line © Mark Cohen.
Fran Lebowitz, Vanity Fair Oscar Party, West Hollywood, 2000. © 2024 Jonathan Becker. All rights reserved (page 202)
