Book
Reviews
82 .
David Thomson
The Waiting Game
Txema Salvans
Transient Confessions
Corinne L. Rusch
Lebensmittel
Michael Schmidt
The title of this two-volume set, 82,
gives little clue to the content beyond
the fact that 82 photos are included
in each volume. Like some bureaucratic code, it marks but does not
describe. All the images included
in the two volumes date from WWII
and none were taken by professional
photographers. In the back of each
volume the images are exhibited
at their actual size, like specimens,
showing both front and back sides.
In the front sections, meanwhile, the
same images are enlarged and we
can travel inside them.
The edit is like a guidebook to the
stratified emotions that exist in our
warlike nature. Volume 1 gives us a
fleeting glance at the temporal nature of material culture as it rides
alongside unfolding conflict. Volume
2 draws on the human cost. 82 is like
no other narrative you will have seen
before and is so layered that no
amount of analysis will end in firm
conclusion.
A collection of a series of photographs taken by Txema Salvans (born in
1971) over the course of six years,
The Waiting Game documents the
exercise of prostitution along the
highways of Spain’s Mediterranean
coast. Disguised as a surveyor, Salvans was able to photograph a world
of prostitution with an emphasis on
the decidedly unerotic quality of the
actual environs - intersections, roundabouts, dead-end streets, hard
shoulders. The photographs in his
book present the solitary figure of
the waiting woman as a stereotypical
image of objectified sexuality in a
landscape that is at once striking and
tragic. As he explores the varied and
often surprising gamut of human longings and behaviours, Salvans is able
to achieve a balance of sociological
dissection and naturalistic narration,
presenting the image of the prostitute as an almost impersonal component of a larger mechanism.
The photographer Corinne L. Rusch
guides us through the fascinating
and surreal world of the most prominent Grand Hotels of Switzerland
and South Tyrol (Alto Adige). These
locations are renowned in a very
special way for their stunning beauty
and diverse history. From the middle
of the 19th century onwards, it was
here that the rich and beautiful used
to meet and party, staying for weeks
and even months to idle around, play
sport and start new love affairs and
intrigues.
Rusch stages her photos with great
sensitivity and precision in these fin
de siècle settings and in doing so is
able to reveal certain aspects of present-day society in a new light.
Available in English and German.
“Photographer Michael Schmidt’s
latest obsession is the mechanised, industrialised food system
of contemporary Western culture.
Using his trademark style combining
social documentary and urban topographics, he explores the fascinating
topic of how we feed ourselves, from
the farm to the table (or the fast-food
restaurant). This impeccably produced book, clothbound, embossed
and slipcased, is a series of images
only – no text – that looks at the processes and residue of the food system in Europe. The images are arresting, and the subject matter urgent,
whether it’s a huge pile of discarded
food or the details of turning nutrition
into big business.” (Publisher)
Lebensmittel was selected as one
of the Best Books of 2012 in Paris
by: Adam Bell - Colin Pantall - Martin
Parr - Christian Patterson and Tom
Claxton.
ISBN 978-0-9570490-4-8
ISBN 978-8-415118-57-2
ISBN 978-3-86678-643-1
ISBN 978-3-940953-93-3
2 volumes, hardcover,
Hardback,
Hardback, 132 pages
264 pages
157 pages per volume
88 pages
24 color prints
Published 2012
Published October 2013
Published 2013
Published 2013