The Bathers by Jennette Williams (foreword by Mary Ellen Mark)
(Hardcover, 71 pages)
Duke University Press.

Jennette Williams is the winner of this year’s Center for Documentary Studies Honickman First Book Prize for The Bathers, published by Duke University Press. The Bathers illustrates the lifestyle of the women in the bathhouses of Budapest and Istanbul. These platinum palladium photographs reveal a private world of shameless beauty, femininity and sensuality. Light and steam render the flesh of the female body in an elegant painterly manner. Soft tonality and luminescent highlights provide a dreamlike, almost otherworldly depiction of the dignified women bathers.

Williams’ photographs possess both a documentary and portraiture mentality, causing the images to be informative as well as evocative. Aside from the figures, the viewer experiences the architecture and workings of the bathhouse, a place of communal cleansing and relaxation. Some images are mostly occupied with flesh, while others are filled with the ambiance and landscape of the interiors, allowing one to experience both the grandeur of the space and the totality of the event. The photographs recall and continue the tradition of the nude female form in art, ranging from ancient Western European sculpture to paintings by such artists as Ingres, Titian and Lucian Freud. The fact that the photographer is a woman provides an interesting twist to this historical reference and provokes inquiry.

The primal notion of community and gathering together unaffected by nakedness for the simple act of washing is quite instinctive. The perfectly imperfect bodies, the range of ages and the need for people to continuously bathe conjures up ideas of transience, fragility and carnality. On the most basic level, however, the images serve as a celebration of the body and existence as a whole.

Review by PRC Intern Tara Sellios.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: A View of Other Windows by Neal Casal (Hardcover, Abrams Image, 160 pages)

A View of Other Windows is a collection of photographs that centers around the band Ryan Adams and The Cardinals. The images were taken by The Cardinal’s lead guitarist, Neal Casal, chronicling the short-lived time frame in which this group of musicians came together in a whirlwind musical effort lead by Ryan Adams, from approximately 2004-2009. The band is currently on hiatus following Ryan Adam’s decision to take time off from The Cardinals and the unfortunate passing of bassist Chris Feinstein in December, 2009. These photographs offer a rare glimpse into the lives of contemporary musicians, intimately portrayed to the viewer through the eyes of an insider.

The book is dominated by carefully composed snapshots in black and white interspersed with text written by the band members, though the occasional color photograph does make appearances increasingly towards the end of the sequence. The traditional black and white images have an incredible ability to withstand timestamp, seemingly transporting the viewer back to the rock and roll eras of preceding generations. The color photographs feel very different, more contemporary, but grounding in a way that lacks the mystery and drama of the black and white. Either way, the images complicate the viewer’s perception of a typical band photograph, moving far past a strict documentation of onstage musical endeavors and posed album covers. These photographs capture what it means to be at the heart of a band, a tour, a friendship and a legacy, as could only be seen by a member. They chronicle the in-between; not the climactic two hour performances but the waiting that consumes much of a musician’s life. They document the thinking, the writing, the practicing, the set-up and just what it is to hang out and be along for the ride across the globe. Often, the subject of a photograph is just as surprised as the outside viewer when looking back upon a moment captured on film. These are moments sealed from the real-life blur of space and time, made solid and tangible by a musician equally as talented in photography, attempting to piece together the past five years of his life in stills.

As reviewed by PRC Intern Lindsay Rogers

Southerly by Dan Plunkett (Hardcover, Ophidia Press, 159 pages)

Dan Plunkett’s Southerly is a collection of photographs created over forty years, a documentation of the American southern culture in which he was brought up. Equally as unique as they are generic, the images capture the inherent contradiction of life in the south. As described in the forward by his son, Ryan Plunkett, the work documents “that unquantifiable southern grace, that delicate mixture of sense and senselessness”. Gritty, black and white photographs exhibiting a healthy amount of film grain, the carefully considered compositions manage to have a snapshot quality that lends itself to the depiction of the subject matter. The book combines straightforward, simple portraiture with more complicated, environmental portraiture, periodically breaking up the images with quotes expanding upon both the nature of photography and southern culture.

At first glance, the photographs appear to depict a seemingly uncomplicated lifestyle. Small, insular towns, made up largely by a population of farming and blue collar citizens- timeless, in a way. Upon closer inspection, the invasion of contemporary culture becomes evident and complicated relationships emerge between people, both in their relationships to each other and to their environment. Traditional stereotypes of southern culture are at once reinforced and broken as the viewer begins to identify individuals in a sea of generic characters. Facade begins to meld with reality as these southerners embody a lifestyle indoctrinated at birth. Life in the south can only be described as life in the south; it is the way it is, and Plunkett recognizes this as only a native can.

The bulk of the book is dominated by the people- their vices and virtues, the times of violence, the times of serenity and everything in between. The book is punctuated, however, with two scenic photographs, the only two images not containing people. An interesting editorial choice, it makes sure that no one individual can sum up the culture and enforces the importance of place in the shaping and development of a lifestyle. Though the American south is perhaps a more than well traversed subject, the book is nonetheless intriguing in its juxtaposition of images and text, and the photographs are poignantly enlightening.

As reviewed by PRC Intern Lindsay Rogers

Lincoln Russell

Adventures in Burgundy (Hardcover, 168 pages). Pinot Press.

In his book Adventures in Burgundy, long time PRC member and BU alumni Lincoln Russell chronicles the culture and lifestyle characterized by the Burgundy region of eastern France. Known for its wine industry, Burgundy is portrayed as a place of beauty, hospitality and history. Adventures in Burgundy introduces the viewer to every aspect of this place and describes its overall cycles of existence.

Possessing an interest in wine since childhood, Russell has compiled a collection of photographs that both informs the viewer of the process of wine production, as well captures the essence of wine and the unconditional admiration that is characteristic of its makers. The photographs describe everything from the vineyards on which the grapes are grown, to the people who harvest them, to the cellars in which the wine is aged, to the people who enjoy the finished product. The attention to detail evident in the photographs provides deeper insight to the true nature of Burgundy. Adventures in Burgundy is an invitation to experience and enjoy the Burgundian way of life.

As reviewed by PRC intern Tara Sellios

Alfred Buellesbach and Marcus Cowper

Battlescapes (Hardcover, 224 pages) Osprey Publishing

Battlescapes, a new publication by Osprey, is a collection of photographs and essays that survey concurrent landscapes that were once battlefields. Using a 6×17 format camera, Buellesbach photographed grounds with history that spans over two thousand years, from the battle of Alesia in 52 BC to Waterloo in 1815.  The thirty-four battlescapes surveyed are located in twelve European countries.

The basic, straightforward nature of these contemporary landscapes lend to the viewer’s impulse to imagine the horrors that once took place on these grounds. Time has caused the signs of previous battles to vanish; only man-made monuments or fortresses suggest the specifications. One is encouraged to conceptualize the location’s historical events. These beautiful, untouched landscapes were at one point blood stained and littered with bodies. The contrast of the present beauty with previous ugliness makes for an interesting allusion to the overall cycles of history.

Accompanying the panoramic photographs in Battlescapes are writings and other images of historical attractions and geological sites significant to each particular battle that informs the viewer of the details of the landscape’s preoccuring incidents. War is a significant component of a country’s history and identity, and Battlescapes brings further awareness to that. The photographs spark remembrance of the events and locations where these hostilities transpired.

As reviewed by PRC intern Tara Sellios

Anthony Goicolea
Fictions (Hardcover, 188 pages) Twin Palms Publishers

Fictional stories are those that are created with illusion. The images and sequences imagined and invented by Goicolea challenge the viewer to proceed with trepidation when entering another world of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Goicolea’s Fictions by Twin Palms Publishers combines photographs with drawings from multiple different series. Following the subjects through the pages, the viewer witnesses another world filled of rituals and unspoken codes. Iconic and allegorical figures with symbolic imagery create these narratives in which the line between reality and fantasy is constantly being toyed with. Young boys all dressed in casual “uniforms” engage in mischief and appear to be outcasts of society. The meaning and purpose is never completely exposed, yet there is a constant sense of foreboding interwoven with the timeless places and recurring characters. With the publication’s dedication to “liars and storytellers everywhere,” the images read as a narrative interweaving fantasy and bewilderment.

Anthony Goicolea, Still Waters, 2006 from the monograph FICTIONS.

The complexities are further depicted by the androgynous subjects portrayed in the figurative drawings. Using Mylar and Plexiglas, Goicolea layers elements of the composition in transitional states. The doubling of ghostlike figures and the use of garish colors further blur the line between reality and fiction. The hybridization of ritualistic customs with dreamlike myths creates another world in which the viewer must proceed precariously as a hidden observer to resist engulfment.

As reviewed by PRC intern Laura Norris

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

Counterpoint (Hardcover, 72 pages) Twin Palms Publishers

In music, the term counterpoint is defined as the art of combining melodies and juxtaposing notes over one another to create emphasis. Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison’s monograph by Twin Palms Press is a storyboard of ideas centered on their desire to mend, protect and draw attention to our changing landscape.

The ParkeHarrison’s monograph, Counterpoint, is a slight departure from their classic black and white photogravures of the past. Nonetheless, these color images speak of the cycle of life, from birth to death, growth and decay, primarily of the landscapes that blanket our planet, rather than of the individual. Robert plays the protagonist in the individual stories that make up the whole. The introduction and addition of the child may revolve around the hope that a younger generation may hold the key to the changes that our culture must make in order for our landscape to survive. The ParkeHarrison’s have always had a particular interest in the use and overuse of our landscape. Through their photographs, they have created the “Everyman” character that has appeared in their earlier projects such as “The Architect’s Brother.” The Everyman has now removed his suit coat to reveal a tattered and worn out layer, creating an interesting metaphor for the damage that the earth has endured over time, including erosion and climate change. As a viewer, the impact of the color imagery puts a stamp on the real in reality.

The ParkeHarrison’s image, Dark Rain, 2008 appears in the PRC Portfolio, published in 2008. The PRC Portfolio will be featured in two exhibitions in 2009 / 2010.

The PRC Portfolio
October 22 - November 28, 2009
Reception: Friday, November 6, 5:30 - 8pm
450 Harrison Avenue Boston, MA 02118, 617.482.0411

www.gallerykayafas.com

“Out of the Box”: Photography Portfolios from the Permanent Collection
October 24, 2009 - October 2010
Public reception,
Thursday, January 28, 2010, 7 – 9pm
51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, MA 01773, 781.259.8355

www.decordova.org

PRC member James R. Holland has recently published Adventure Photographer, a book that spans the entire career of this very prolific photographer. The book weighs in at a hefty 322 pages and is illustrated with hundreds of photographs showcasing James’s work on such varied subjects as the Serpent Handlers of Scrabble Creek and Traveling with the First Family. As he puts it, “this is the memoir of a journey from the hills of the Ozark Mountains to the Marble Halls of National Geographic’s Washington, DC headquarters and the world beyond.”

You can learn more about Adventure Photographer and James’s other books at www.abitofbostonbooks.com.

Adventure Photographer
By James R. Holland
322-Page Fully Illustrated
Soft Cover

For all those of you who had wanted to but couldn’t get to the Friedlander retrospective at MoMA, do yourself a favor and pick up the exhibition catalogue. The show, which just closed at SFMOMA, was a mammoth representation of a prolific career that keeps on, keeping on. Well at least that’s what I hear from my wife who actually saw the show. Yours truly was, unfortunately, bound to his desk. But I couldn’t be happier with my catalogue consolation prize (which must have doubled the weight of her carry on). I’ve just begun to crack this massive tome (falls under the category of “books that can double as weapons”) but am already intrigued by the organization of this amazing photographer’s life’s work.

In other book-related business: Many of you know the PRC has an extensive library that houses in excess of 4,500 photo-related books. We are fortunate to receive donations from publishers, artists, and generous individuals who help to ensure that our collection keeps growing. We recently received 2 great books from the photographer Kristin Capp. Ms. Capp kindly donated her monographs Hutterite: A World of Grace and Americana. Swing by and check out these great bodies of work. I’ll periodically post new library additions to the blog and I am happy to say that we will have an on-line library catalogue available by this fall/winter.