SEPTEMBER 18–DECEMBER 7, 2013
DIY (VISITS CHICAGO):
PHOTOGRAPHERS AND BOOKS
Mali Anderson, Rosaire Appel, Steven Beckly, Roberly Bell, Marissa Lee Benedict, Sarah Benning, Sarah Bodman, Tom Burtonwood,
Javier Carmona, R. Clarke-Davis, Joerg M. Colberg, Sylvia De Swaan, Dennis DeHart, Robert Drea, Boo Gilder, Regan Golden, Marcella
Hackbardt, Julian Jason Haladyn, Brian Harmon, Steve Harp, James Hugunin, Ani Katz, Nick Kline, Lewis Koch, Jenna Lynch, Emily Martin,
Scott McCarney, Paula McCartney, Charles Mintz, Lydia Moyer, Laura Noel, David Parker, Mimi Plumb, Susan Porteous, Jeff Rathermel,
Tom Sowden, Valerio Spada, Max Stolkin, Lex Thompson, Mary Jo Toles, Everett Williams, Nanette Wylde & Kent Manske, Philip Zimmermann
DIY (VISITS CHICAGO):
PHOTOGRAPHERS AND BOOKS
PAULA MCCARTNEY, ON THIN ICE IN A BLIZZARD
PHILIP ZIMMERMANN, OJALÁ
LEX THOMPSON, CAVE DRAWINGS
BY GREGORY J. HARRIS
It’s now been said countless times, but it’s still exciting to hear:
the world of photobooks is thriving. We truly are in the midst of
a “New Golden Age” for this medium that was once little more than
a side note in the histories of photography.1 In a climate of rapid
technological change, where the literary publishing industry has
struggled to find its place, artists are pushing the boundaries of what
can be accomplished with the printed page. The offerings of large
fine art publishers continue to grow and become more ambitious,
innovative independent presses proliferate, and the resources and
opportunities to self-publish (as the present exhibition attests) are
seemingly limitless.2 The only downside seems to be that there’s just
too many good photobooks being published—how can you keep up?
What is a photobook? To answer this question, Martin Parr and
Gerry Badger offer a useful starting point: “A photobook is a book—
with or without text—where the work’s primary message is carried by
the photographs.”3 This simple and direct definition makes a crucial
distinction, yet it addresses only a facet of the numerous integrated
material elements that make photobooks so dynamic. Photobooks,
more than a mere collection of images, are self-contained works,
which utilize all of the book’s constituent parts—sequence and
pacing, text, design, physical form, binding, paper stock, printing
method, to name a few—in consort with the photographic images
to articulate and deliver that message. In short, photobooks are
a hybrid but distinct medium, a “dramatic event” that is notably
greater than the sum of its parts.4
Since the invention of the medium, photographs have found
a comfortable place in books. One of photography’s inventors,
William Henry Fox Talbot, produced the first commercially produced
photographically illustrated publication, The Pencil of Nature
(1844–46), a treatise on his discoveries and aesthetic pursuits.
As Patrizia Di Bello noted, “The new medium of photography was…
always intended to become the content of an older one, the book.”5
Indeed, books continue to be an ideal container and delivery system
for photographers to employ as a means of creative expression.
Unlike an exhibition, which is public and temporary, or a website,
which relies on a cold technology destined for obsolescence, the
photobook puts numerous tools at the artist’s disposal and gives the
reader/viewer a tangible and accessible experience. Above all, the
photobook, a medium in every sense of the word, gives the artist and
audience a means to connect.
From the moment photography became commercially viable, it
has been individual’s primary means for recording images of deep
personal significance. Small cased Daguerreotypes, a hand tinted
tintype, a collection of cartes-de-visite, or an album of snapshots
are all intimate means sharing those personal images. Likewise,
at their most basic level, websites like Facebook and Instagram
offer us yet another way to view and share photographs. Yet they
leave something to be desired—a sense of touch and the direct
physical interaction with the photographs. As with cherished
family albums, photobooks engage us not only visually, but also
TOM BURTONWOOD, ORIHON
haptically. It is this sense of touch, this opportunity to physically
experience their materiality, which truly brings photobooks to life
and connects artists with their audiences. Ironically, some of the
same trends and advances in technology that have brought about
the dematerialization of much of our visual culture have also ushered
in both the desire and the means for the easy materialization of the
printed book.
It’s never been easier to publish a photobook and put it in
the hands of a reader/viewer. Accessible digital imaging, simple
layout software, affordable quality printing, and online sales
platforms have all revolutionized the potential for photobook making
and distribution. Print-on-demand (POD), like so many photographic
technologies, was first introduced for the consumer market of family
snapshooters, but artists quickly adapted it for their own aesthetic
and conceptual uses. As Barbara Tannenbaum noted, POD has
liberated photobook makers: “Variations can be explored. Impulses
can be gratified. Risks can be taken.”6 No longer bound to the
world of publishers and high cost printing, photobook makers can
circumvent an entire industry to express directly their ideas.7
As this exhibition demonstrates, the state of self-published
photobooks is rich and diverse. Paula McCartney’s On Thin Ice, In
a Blizzard, a collection of photograms made from ice and snow,
perfectly merges form and content through design and sequence.
Barbash, by Ani Katz, pulls on the threads of family mythmaking by
exploring the photobook’s ability to intertwine written and visual
stories. Likewise, Boo Gilder’s Here & Then, volume 23: Favorite
Words and Images pulls together fragmented images and isolated
phrases to spin loose narratives as the pages turn. In Closure,
Sarah Bodman elicits a eerily disjointed emotional response with
a simple act: contrasting the benign photographs and soothing
instructions from a flower arranging manual with the bellicose names
of war planes. J.M. Colberg mines a discrete location of Google
Earth (an alley in Pittsburg) in The Bird, the Truck, and the Old Woman
to isolate the slippages and pitfalls of a supposedly comprehensive
TOM SOWDEN, COACH SEAT
“god-like” record of the built environment. Perhaps no other book
in this exhibition suggests the vastness of the photobook’s future
so much as Tom Burtonwood’s Orihon, a 3D-printed accordionfold volume containing scans of ancient sculptural objects. Orihon
announces its tactility and embraces both history and prospect,
infusing the book with true DIY ingenuity.
The possibilities of the interplay between photographs, text,
design, and the printed “page” consistently instill a desire to look,
to read, and to touch. The variation in form seen in the photobooks
on view here challenges us to constantly re-evaluate the way we
conceive of photographs as a means of engaging the world around
us. They persuade us to actively consider the ways photographs
function as significant bearers of complex meaning, be they
intellectual, physical or visual.8
GREGORY J. HARRIS IS ASSISTANT CURATOR AT THE DEPAUL ART MUSEUM
1
See Darius Himes. “Who Cares About Books?” In
Words Without Pictures, Charlotte Cotton, ed.
(Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2009: 166).
2
Barbara Tannenbaum. DIY: Photographers & Books (Cleveland:
Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012: 5).
3
Martin Parr and Gerry Badger. The Photobooks: A History, vol. 1
(London: Phaidon Press, Inc., 2004: 6).
4
Ralph Prins, quoted in Parr and Badger: 7.
5
Patrizia Di Bello and Shannon Zamir. The Photobook: From
6
Tannenbaum: 5.
7
Himes: 166.
8
Much of this closing paragraph is adapted from my
Talbot to Ruscha and Beyond (London: I.B. Tauris, 2012: 8).
unpublished MA thesis, “Photography By the Book: Wall,
Matta-Clark and the Photobook After Ruscha” (2010).
DIY (Visits Chicago): Photographers and Books is the second iteration of an
exhibition exploring Print on Demand (POD) photobooks. Originally curated
by Barbara Tannenbaum for the Cleveland Museum of Art, DIY: Photographers
and Books (2012) was the first museum show to focus on the impact of
print - on - demand publishing on contemporary photographic practice. As
a continuation, this juried exhibition considers photobooks that move
beyond the monograph: how do photographers engage experimental visual
and conceptual modes of storytelling, while pushing the possibilities of
print on demand publishing? Artists on view utilize websites such as Blurb
or Lulu, and even 3D printers.
DIY was juried by Jessica Cochran, Curator of Exhibitions and Programs, Center for Book and Paper Arts;
Gregory J. Harris, Assistant Curator, DePaul Art Museum; Karen Irvine, Curator & Associate Director, Museum
of Contemporary Photography; and Steve Woodall, Director, Center for Book and Paper Arts.
DIY (Visits Chicago): Photographers and Books is part of Chicago Artists Month 2013, the 18th annual celebration of Chicago’s vibrant art
community presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. For more information, visit www.chicagoartistsmonth.org.
COVER IMAGES FROM THE TOP LEFT: Sarah Bodman, Closure; Roberly Bell, Visible From The Corner Of My Eye; Lex Thompson, Greetings from
Colma; Regan Golden, At the Edge of an Unfamiliar Forest; Steven Beckly, At the Same Time
The Center for Book and Paper Arts is dedicated to the
research, teaching, and promotion of the interdisciplinary
practices that support the book arts and hand papermaking
as contemporary art media. The Center is part of the
Interdisciplinary Arts Department at Columbia College
Chicago, and in addition to housing both graduate and
undergraduate classes for that department, it publishes a
critical journal and artists’ books, mounts exhibitions, hosts
artist residencies, sponsors symposia and public programs,
and provides advanced study through a workshop program.
colum.edu /bookandpaper
Center for Book and Paper Arts
Gallery Hours: Mon–Wed, Fri, 10–6; Thurs 10–8
1104 S Wabash Ave, 2nd Fl, Chicago, IL 60605
book&paper@colum.edu