dinsdag 22 september 2009

Bombay Beauties KESSELSKRAMER PUBLISHING NEW BOOKS Vernacular Photography

KESSELSKRAMER PUBLISHING – NEW BOOKS

For the second time, Erik Kessels brings his own photos together in a new book Tree Paintings – Photography by Erik Kessels, which documents trees “marked for destruction by loggers”. Kessels has recorded these ‘tags’, or simple inscriptions made on the bark of the tree by different people, in a series of close up shots. The second book release, Bombay Beauties, is a collection of found photographs which have been acquired and edited by Kessels and is a follow-up to Bangkok Beauties. The featured images were collected in Mumbai and depict “a rich mix of ordinary subjects from hairdressers’ models to family shots, to wedding images”.

Kessels has brought vernacular photography to the forefront and his exhibition Loving Your Pictures was one of the highlights of Rencontres d’Arles 2007. As with much of Kessels curation of, mainly, ‘found’ photographs, the themes and concepts binding the work appear deceptively simple but are brilliantly polysemic and engaging. What’s more, photographers considering producing their own books would benefit from looking at the selection of books produced and published by KesselsKramer Publishing, especially as each work is conceived of and treated to different processes resulting in objects which help achieve the initiative’s stated interest “in testing boundaries in the field of publishing”.

The HQ, KesselsKramer, is located in Amsterdam and has a sister hub outlet KKOutlet – a quirky place which is a hybrid communications agency-cum-gallery-cum-bookshop – perched in east London’s hip Hoxton Square. Kessels’s magazine Useful Photography can be purchased here alongside a wonderful collection of books.


Black Smoke Journey to the End of Coal China Photography

Synopsis

Journey To The End Of Coal tells you the story of a sacrifice. A sacrifice millions of Chinese coal miners are making everyday, risking their lives and spoiling their land to satisfy their own country’s appetite for economic growth.

Your journey begins in Datong which is located just a couple hours away West from Beijing. You travel from there all around the region and visit its major coal mines, from the “best” state-owned complex to the worst private coal plants.

In and around the coal mines, you get the story first hand from the mingong, the rural migrants traveling their country looking for work.

At your own pace and will, you meet them and learn more about how they live in this valley of death and pollution, sometimes even literally bumping into them as they leave their home for their night shift, in the frozen winter of Northern China.

Ultimately, you might discover China forbidden mines in which happen most of the accidents.
–
Based on the interactive story telling format “FIRST PERSONS”, conceived by Abel Ségrétin, Grégoire Basdevant and Arnaud Dressen.
Producer : Arnaud DressenDirectors: Samuel Bollendorff and Abel SégrétinCo-Author: Grégoire BasdevantSound design: Frederic BlinDevelopment: 31Septembre / Guillaume Urjewicz / Remi ToffoliWith the support from CNC multimédia and SCAM.

Black Smoke Journey to the End of Coal China Photography

Synopsis

Journey To The End Of Coal tells you the story of a sacrifice. A sacrifice millions of Chinese coal miners are making everyday, risking their lives and spoiling their land to satisfy their own country’s appetite for economic growth.

Your journey begins in Datong which is located just a couple hours away West from Beijing. You travel from there all around the region and visit its major coal mines, from the “best” state-owned complex to the worst private coal plants.

In and around the coal mines, you get the story first hand from the mingong, the rural migrants traveling their country looking for work.

At your own pace and will, you meet them and learn more about how they live in this valley of death and pollution, sometimes even literally bumping into them as they leave their home for their night shift, in the frozen winter of Northern China.

Ultimately, you might discover China forbidden mines in which happen most of the accidents.
–
Based on the interactive story telling format “FIRST PERSONS”, conceived by Abel Ségrétin, Grégoire Basdevant and Arnaud Dressen.
Producer : Arnaud DressenDirectors: Samuel Bollendorff and Abel SégrétinCo-Author: Grégoire BasdevantSound design: Frederic BlinDevelopment: 31Septembre / Guillaume Urjewicz / Remi ToffoliWith the support from CNC multimédia and SCAM.

maandag 21 september 2009

In the Name of God the Untouchables of India Olivia Arthur Photography

In the Name of God

Olivia Arthur photographed the ramnamis in India. These leather workers are on the lowest rung of the caste system. Because they process the skins of the holy cows they are 'untouchables' and are, for instance, forbidden to enter Hindu temples. As an expression of their own proud religious convictions the ramnamis tattoo the name of the god Ram all over their bodies. In this way they wish to show that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and that they have no need of temples to confess their faith. The tattoos of a divine name on the skin of an unclean person are at the same time a provocation addressed to the higher castes.

Olivia Arthur (b. 1980, Great Britain) is the winner of the Magnum Photos Inge Morath Award 2007.

See for Human Conditions Nooderlicht International Photofestival 2009 ... & Geloofsstrijd ...



In the Name of God the Untouchables of India Olivia Arthur Photography

In the Name of God

Olivia Arthur photographed the ramnamis in India. These leather workers are on the lowest rung of the caste system. Because they process the skins of the holy cows they are 'untouchables' and are, for instance, forbidden to enter Hindu temples. As an expression of their own proud religious convictions the ramnamis tattoo the name of the god Ram all over their bodies. In this way they wish to show that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and that they have no need of temples to confess their faith. The tattoos of a divine name on the skin of an unclean person are at the same time a provocation addressed to the higher castes.

Olivia Arthur (b. 1980, Great Britain) is the winner of the Magnum Photos Inge Morath Award 2007.

See for Human Conditions Nooderlicht International Photofestival 2009 ... & Geloofsstrijd ...



donderdag 17 september 2009

Jacob Holdt: Shipwrecked souls in Nixon's alien America Documentary Photography Photojournalism


United States 1970-1975 Jacob Holdt
19 September 2009 to 10 January 2010

Kunsthal Rotterdam puts photographs by Danish photographer Jacob Holdt on display which present the visitors a vivid image of the United States in the Seventies. Over eighty pictures and a presentation of slides show a society where poverty, fear, loneliness and violence prevail. Between 1970 and 1975 Holdt traveled criss-cross through the country and documented the social injustice he came across with a simple camera. He shows touching portraits of people from the lowest classes of society. Behind each of these photographs is a story of personal drama. Holdt took photographs that can still be considered current, perhaps even more so because present high unemployment rates and lack of affordable health insurance and care may very well lead to a situation in which many American citizens will be forced to live their lives in abominable circumstances.

Oppressive Image of the Time
During a period of time of five years Jacob Holdt stayed with over four hundred American families, with hardly any cash at hand. He stayed with various migrant families and became acquainted with criminals in ghettos, drug addicts and prostitutes but also got to know tremendously rich families like the Rockefellers. His parents could not believe all the stories he told them in his letters and therefore decided to send him a simple camera in order to illustrate all his adventures with pictures. Holdt took photographs of thousands of meetings and managed to register these moments without passing any judgment whatsoever. The people portrayed do not gaze into the camera's lens and all show their urge to survive in a very personal and distinctive way. He shows racial hatred and political tension when he becomes friends with principal figures within the Ku Klux Klan and when he is temporarily working for members of staff at the Republican presidential election campaign. As a child of his time he takes part in great anti-Vietnam demonstrations. He also portrays the Black Power movement - and a great many of his friends that end up in prison because of violent actions. Read more ...

woensdag 16 september 2009

Rob Hornstra Updates Documentary Photography

Rob Hornstra
Postbus 1011 / NL - 3500 BA Utrecht
+31 6 1436 5936 / subscribe@borotov.com


For four months I have been working with Arnold van Bruggen on The Sochi Project. In this time, there has been a lot of interest in the way in which we are trying to finance this project. We are relying principally on donations to ensure that for five years we are able to intensively document the developments around Olympic Sochi. And that seems to be working. More than 100 donors have now come forward, donating a total of nearly €9,000. We’re not there yet, but we’re well on the way...


Sanatorium Publication (new)

Sochi and sanatoria are inextricably linked. During the Communist era Sochi was a health resort where workers were sent for a holiday or to recuperate. In the run-up to the Games almost all of the sanatoria will undergo a facelift in order to lose their Soviet image. Before that happens, The Sochi Project will devote extensive attention to these historic buildings. At the end of November we will bring out our annual publication; a homage to the Soviet sanatorium (only available to donors of The Sochi Project). In the summer of 2010 we intend to organise a trip for people interested in staying in one of these not-yet-renovated Soviet sanatoria.



• The nominations for the Kasseler Fotoforum Photo Book Award 2008+2009 (which includes 101 Billionaires) have been compiled in a beautiful catalogue, which can be viewed and ordered on the website photobook.ph.
• The autumn issue (#196) of
Aperture Magazine contains an eight-page portfolio from 101 Billionaires.
• With the book, I have also been nominated for the
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2010. The shortlist will be announced at the end of October.

Willem & Kid Project

For several years I have been taking photos of my neighbours, Willem & Kid, in the Utrecht problem neighbourhood Ondiep. A selection of these can now be seen in the portfolio on my website. The demolition of our neighbourhood has now come to within 50 metres of our front doors. We expect to have to move out of our houses in around a year. Of course I will continue to follow Willem & Kid.

Agenda September 2009 - November 2009
01.09.2009 - 10.10.2009
Work from Russia (2003 - 2009) will be exhibited in the Fotofestival Noorderlicht satellite programme. Bookshop Godert Walter, Oude Ebbingestraat 53 in Groningen.
godertwalter.nl
19.11.2009 - 22.11.2009
Flatland Gallery will present new work during Paris Photo. The Sanatorium book will also be launched on Friday at 4pm.
www.parisphoto.fr