Black & White Photography - September 2015 UK

09

B+W

W

ith the opening

of the V&A’s

exhibition of Julia

Margaret Cameron’s

work in November, Mack has

published this accompanying

book by curator of photographs

at the museum, Marta Weiss.

This year is the bicentenary of

Cameron’s birth and the 150th

anniversary of her first and only

exhibition at the V&A in 1865.

A charming reminder of what

portraiture can be, the work

reveals the talent, originality and

adventurous spirit of this early

photographer. Her characteristic,

slightly out of focus portraits flew

in the face of accepted (sharp

focus) photographic values – and

later became her trademark. As

much intent on the commercial

side of her work as the artistic –

she had ‘sons to educate’ – her

unique style demanded attention.

Today these images are so well

known that we tend to forget how

special they are – the exhibition and book will be a good reminder.

Elizabeth Roberts

ON THE SHELF

NEWS

C

afé Royal Books,

founded in 2005,

is the brainchild of

independent publisher

Craig Atkinson who has been

producing a book a week for the

last few years.

This astonishing achievement

lacks nothing in quality or

originality of content.

One of his latest books, Martin

Parr’s Chinatown 1984, caught

my eye. I find it fascinating to see

the early work of a photographer

and to discern what led them to

their current work.

Here, Parr’s early black &

white work, shot in China

when there was just a hint of

Westernisation, compares to

his later work, shot in 1997 in

colour, that reveals a China

embracing American culture.

Parr’s interest in the Chinese photobook is reflected in the recent

exhibition, The Chinese Photobook, at the Photographers’ Gallery,

which he co-curated and which was partly drawn from his own

collection.

Elizabeth Roberts

I WENT TO THE

WORST OF BARS

HOPING TO GET

KILLED, BUT ALL I

COULD DO WAS

TO GET DRUNK

AGAIN

Ciáran Óg Arnold

Mack

Softback, £

T

his book is only about

darkness. From the cover

in, it overwhelms, taking

us into the run-down

bars and clubs of Ballinasloe,

a godforsaken town on the

easternmost corner of Galway

in Ireland. Here photographer

Ciáran Óg Arnold follows the

men who have lost hope –

losers and loners whose only

consolation is drink and the hope

of oblivion, and the women who

exist on their periphery. And yet

we don’t feel like an onlooker for

the book takes us closer, almost

as if we were participating in the

action. It’s not an easy feeling.

Shot largely in grainy black &

white, with full bleed pictures, its

almost diary-like narrative draws

you into the claustrophobic world

between its midnight blue covers.

A well deserved winner of the

First Book Award 2015.

Elizabeth Roberts

CHINATOWN 1984

Martin Parr

Café Royal Books

Paperback, £

THE LAST

COSMOLOGY

Kikuji Kawada

Mack

Softback, £

JULIA MARGARET

CAMERON:

PHOTOGRAPHS

TO ELECTRIFY YOU

WITH DELIGHT AND

STARTLE THE WORLD

Marta Weiss

Mack

Softback, £

B

est known for his series

The Map that was featured

in the Tate Modern

exhibition, Conflict,

Time, Photography, Kikuji

Kawada is an acclaimed Japanese

photographer. Born in the Ibaraki

Prefecture in 1933, he co-founded

the VIVO collective in 1959 and

was one of 15 artists selected for

New Japanese Photography in the

landmark exhibition at MoMA

in New York in 1974.

This book, which brings

together work shot over a period

from 1980 to 2000, reveals the

photographer’s preoccupation

with the cosmos and the human

condition. Here we find him

looking to the skies, abnormal

weather and the end of two

significant eras, the Showa Era

in Japan and the end of the

20th century. Part of his

Catastrophe Trilogy, the work,

shot entirely in black & white,

is a fascinating encounter with

a photographer whose remit

goes well beyond photography.

Elizabeth Roberts

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