March’s selection of must-have photo books includes Stephen Shore, Peter Beard, Lina Scheynius and Luis Alberto Rodriguez
My Photo Books by Lina Scheynius, published by Jean Boîte Editions
The latest offering from Swedish photographer Lina Scheynius compiles each of her 11 self-published photo books into one publication, titled My Photo Books. The books, published between 2008 and 2019, form a compelling document of contemporary womanhood, as seen from Scheynius’ unflinching perspective. Reflecting on the work, Scheynius explained to AnOther: “Some [books] I made big changes to, others I didn’t touch, but seeing them together for the first time was still strange. They were familiar, but so new.”
Transparencies: Small Camera Works 1971–1979 by Stephen Shore, published by MACK
Transparencies is the latest publication from American image-maker and colour photography pioneer Stephen Shore, comprising photographs taken between 1971 and 1979 on a 35-millimetre Leica that have never previously been published. The images capture 1970s America as Shore travelled across the country taking in its people, landscapes, streets and signs, and form a colourful and captivating portrait of the everyday in the United States.
People of the Mud by Luis Alberto Rodriguez, published by Loose Joints
People of the Mud is a new series by US-born, Berlin-based artist Luis Alberto Rodriguez. Training his lens on the communities of Ireland’s County Wexford, the photographs – several of which see the subjects pose in contorted, choreographed forms – draw on Rodriguez’s own background in professional dance (subjects include Irish dancers and hurlers). The result is a powerful depiction of community, where tradition and modernity intersect daily. The Loose Joints-published book launches this Thursday, March 12, with a signing at Donlon Books.
Thought Pieces: 1970s Photographs by Lew Thomas, Donna-Lee Phillips and Hal Fischer, edited by Erin O’Toole, published by MACK
A new book published by MACK hones in on 1970s San Francisco’s ‘Photography and Language Movement’, and three image-makers at its centre: Hal Fischer, Lew Thomas and Donna-Lee Phillips. Featuring photography by each – including Fischer’s seminal series Gay Semiotics, which is currently exhibited in London as part of the Barbican Centre’s exhibition Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography – Thought Pieces looks at their groundbreaking, and often collaborative, work. “I met Lew because I was writing art reviews and did one of his show,” Fischer told Another Man last year. “Lew became my mentor and he gave me books to read, like The Structure of Art by Jack Burnham. I had been writing and drawing on photographs since college, and I had this aha moment: This is what is happening around me!”
Pampara by Renell Medrano
Renell Medrano’s series Pampara was recently exhibited in London, and is now published as a limited-edition book. The highly personal series saw the Bronx-born Medrano return to the Dominican Republic, her parents’ home country and where she would spend summers as a child. “I wanted to go back and pay homage to my parents’ culture,” Medrano told AnOther, “and shine a light on what is part of me: the people, the culture, the freedom and the innocence [in the Dominican Republic]. I thought, how come I have never photographed what is so special and a part of me?”
East End of Europe by Patrick Bienert, published by Kahl Editions
“I think it’s a personal story. It’s about the people I met, and I tried to meet as many people as I could, but in the end it’s my own interpretation,” Patrick Bienert explained to Another Man as his book East End of Europe was published. Bienert travelled to Georgia frequently over the course of three years, struck by its fractious history, extraordinary landscapes and people; the beautiful photographs in East End of Europe span tender portraits of children playing in the countryside and the after-dark scenes of Tbilisi’s nightlife.
Peter Beard, published by Taschen
Taschen’s celebrated volume charting the life and work of image-maker Peter Beard is reissued this month in the German publisher’s XL format. Famed for his vivid collaged diaries, full of anecdotes, annotations, drawings and photographs, Beard forged an artistic career documenting his extraordinary life – he counted people like Salvador Dalí, Truman Capote, and Andy Warhol as friends. Kenya has also been a significant subject for Beard; having lived there since the 1960s, the photographer has documented the sometimes harsh realities of the country’s changing landscapes and inhabitants in the decades since, in his idiosyncratic diaristic style.
We Have Been Meaning To by Marie Dehé and Haydee Touitou, published by Art Paper Editions
A new book from Art Paper Editions brings together tender photography by Marie Déhé and poetry by Haydee Touitou. To create the publication, which is titled We Have Been Meaning To, Déhé sent a selection of photographs to Touitou, who then wrote a poem in response to each one. The book’s final layout, however, doesn’t place the corresponding pictures and poems together. “This book is a companion to reverie,” Touitou explained to AnOther. “It makes daydreams tangible and lasting. Some pages are left blank [so that] one could even feel free to write on them.”