Photobook Reviews, Episode 13 – by Kate Schultze
I’d really like to hang out with Charlie Engman’s mom. Or would I? Because it’s also kind of mindblowing to me how your mum can be THAT cool. I’m suspicious.
So today I am going to write about the American visual artist Charlie Engman and his book “MOM”. Engman’s “Hello Chaos, A Love Story” was in my little photographer’s gift guide and his new book “Cursed” is being widely discussed in the context of AI art at the moment. But “MOM” made me feel something the others didn’t and I am now going to attempt to pin it down.
Publisher
Edition Patrick Frey
Layout
27,5×20,5cm, hardcover, 220 pages
Price
58 €
Since 2009 Charlie Engman has been photographing his mother, Kathleen McCain Engman, on a regular basis. This photobook is a collection of portraits of her. But it’s not that simple. 58We are not looking at portraits of Kathleen as a mother, but we are looking at dozens of different roles she dives into. There are a number of photobooks which are following one subject and I’ve always found this concept intriguing. By not shying away from monotony you quickly discover that photographing the same person/thing/subject over and over again actually is not monotonous at all.
In “MOM” Engman makes use of a giant variety of photography styles. From very editorial high fashion like lighting, to quick holiday snapshots to what looks like old iPhone selfies as well as experimentally altered images. Also there are a lot of photos of photos, Kathleen’s photo on a laptop screen, a portrait of her on a billboard. The design of this book is chaos, but it makes total sense. Very classic full page spreads, stacks and stacks of photographs, film stills, all thrown at you one after the other. There is no system, yet it feels so coherent. With each page you turn Engman is offering a new view on Kathleen and the role she is playing this time. It is incredibly overwhelming (in a very enjoyable way) and also simply impressive to think this quality and variety of work has been created by one person.
When I look at this book, all I am thinking is I could never have this kind of collaboration with my mother. So this is what the book does. It pushes the boundaries of the image of a mother and challenges ideas of control and vulnerability in parental relationships.
