AGM92 Module Introduction 21 April 2021

The seminar to introduce the module was held online during which Xavier gave an outline to what would be involved.

The focal points of this module are the exploration of photographs on the printed page and other forms plus how the photograph coexists with paper. The other consideration is how the photograph can be combined with text.

The question to ask myself is “what would happen to my work when ‘translated’ onto a printed page?”

As outlined in the module handbook, Xavier went through the following reiterations of the photograph in the printed page: Books, booklets, albums, catalogues, zines, visual essays, scrapbooks.

Xavier also asked the class to consider the ‘photobook’ as emergent phenomena:

• Practices
• Forms
• Themes

The main point that Xavier was for the class to look at and scruitinise as many photographic publications as possible. Not just books, but zines, pamphlets, postcards, etc. While doing so, we should make notes on how the item has been constructed, the images used, how the text relates to the images, the text contained within the publication (credits) and any other relevant observations. This would then inform our own decisions in the realisation of our own work.

The other aspect that needs consideration is the submittance of the final piece of work. The completed piece will have to be submitted online on 31 August 2021. However, as Xavier made quite clear, all of the class should make a ‘real’ book to truly understand the process of putting photographs in the context of being physically published.

After this seminar, each member of the class had to present a brief proposal of what they would be working on. This is the proposal I presented. It will be quite interesting to see how this changes and develops during the duration of the module.

Suggested Reading

• Carol Armstrong, ‘A Scene in a Library: The First Photographically Illustrated Book’. In Carol Armstrong, Scenes in a Library: Reading the Photograph in the Book, 1843–1875. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1998 (p.107-178)
• David Campany, ‘The ‘Photobook: What’s in a name?’ The Photobook Review #007, Aperture, Winter 2014. http://davidcampany.com/the-photobook-whats-in-a-name/
• Henry Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature (1844)
• ‘Introduction’ to Patrizia di Bello, Colette Wilson and Shamoon Nazir, The Photobook: From Talbot to Ruscha and Beyond. London, I.B.Tauris, 2012 (pages 1 to 16)
• Walker Evans and James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) (all pages until p.16)

Photography Books & Publictions

Alexander Honory, The Lost Pictures (1998)

André Breton, Nadja (1928 / 1963)

Assier Mendizabal, Raven Row Gallery hand-outs (2012)

Bertolt Brecht, War Primer (1955)

Delphine Bedel All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: Notes on Tourism (2008)

Edward Ruscha, Twenty-six Gasoline Stations (1962)

Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian (1907–30)

Eric Baudelaire, Gallery hand-out The Anabassis (2011)

Henry Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature (1844) (Project Gutenberg eBook, 2010)

J.G.Sebald, The Emigrants (1996)

Lamara, Niazi, Nordin The Library Was (2016)

Mohini Chandra, Album Pacifica (2001)

Orhan Pamuk Istanbul: Memories of a City (2003)

Walker Evans and James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) (1960)

Walker Evans, ‘Labour Anonymous’. In Fortune Vol XXXIV Nr 5 (1946)

Xavier Ribas Kulturkonflikte in Texten (1997); La Relève (2010)

Xavier Ribas, Nitrate (2014)