Photobook Reviews, Episode 9 – by Kate Schultze
This year has been a big one for photo books (as every year probably) and even though I picked up a fair amount of books I probably still didn’t manage to see even 10% of what has been published. Here are my Top 10 of the books I managed to look at in 2024. Some of these I’ve already spoken about in depth, some of them I only picked up a few days ago (and for some I’m still waiting in the post right at this moment). So please enjoy this brief overview and maybe it gives you an idea of what’s to come next year!
State of Emergency
Max Pinckers
Over the last 10 years, Pinckers developed State of Emergency as a documentary project in collaboration with Mau Mau war veterans and Kenyan survivors of the brutal suppression during the final years of British colonial rule. Combining fragmented colonial archives, photographs of architectural and symbolic remnants, mass grave sites, reenactments, and personal testimonies, the book brings together stories from those who lived through and survived the war.
Publisher
Self-published
Layout
Flexible hardcover,
30x24cm, 448 pages
Price
40 €
Link
Plexus
Elena Helfrecht
Plexus delves into the theme of family trauma, focusing on the legacy of Elena’s female ancestors. Following her grandmother’s passing, Elena returns to Bavaria and transforms her family’s 200-year-old house into a stage. In her vision, the estate and its everyday objects come alive, becoming, as she describes, “protagonists for an allegoric play.” Through this creative lens, Elena examines a universal question that often preoccupies photographers: what exists in the space between past and present, myth and reality, personal memories and shared cultural heritage?
Dogbreath
Matthew Genitempo
Set in Tucson, Arizona, Matthew Genitempo’s Dogbreath tells the story of teenagers trying to find their way in a challenging world. Through photos of crumbling neighborhoods, punk kids in mosh pits, and their wild dog companions, the book captures the raw energy and uncertainty of youth. Woven into this are mysterious writings about a boy named Dove, who talks about secret rituals, scavenging for scraps, and hunting for gold, adding a layer of mystery to this powerful portrait of life on the edge.
A Woman I Once Knew
Rosalind Fox Solomon
At thirty-eight, Rosalind Fox Solomon began her photography career in Chattanooga, Tennessee, studying with Lisette Model and developing a distinctive style that defined her work for decades. In 1984, she moved to New York City and traveled extensively to places like Peru, India, and South Africa, earning acclaim for her bold depictions of everyday life. Over the same period, she created self-portraits, using her camera to explore aging, self-perception, and the emotions that shaped her journey. A Woman I Once Knew unites these portraits with her reflective writings, offering a deeply personal blend of image and text that captures her experiences with depression, cultural discovery, and her empathetic approach to art.
The Perfect Crime
Jan Staiger & Malte Uchtmann
Germany has a deep fascination with crime fiction, with over 238 crime series airing across its six largest TV networks. Drawing from this abundance of fictional murder, The Perfect Crime explores how crime series influence our perceptions and behaviors. Using varied photographic methods, Staiger and Uchtmann capture film sets of German crime series, re-staging and abstracting scenes while contrasting them with realistic images of corpses and crime scenes. Portraits of actors playing victims and perpetrators are transformed with AI to create alternate identities, echoing the creation of police phantom images. Additionally, locations used as fictional crime scenes are documented as 3D reconstructions through photogrammetry, hinting at the rise of so-called “fear spaces.”
American Glitch
Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein
Andrea Orejarena and Caleb Stein spent years treating the internet as a collective subconscious, gathering social media posts of “real life glitches” as part of their research. These posts, presented as multidimensional echoes, inspired their formal photographs of locations across the U.S. that evoke similar glitch-like qualities.
American Glitch examines the tension between fact and fiction as it appears in the U.S. landscape, questioning what is real in a world saturated with information. In an age of screens and growing technological dependence, the idea that we live in a simulation has gained cultural traction, often as a satirical critique of late-stage capitalism and disinformation.
Nothing Personal
Nikita Teryoshin
The news bombards us daily with images of war and destruction, while global spending on weapons continues to rise. Yet, the inner workings of the arms trade remain largely hidden from view. Between 2016 and 2023, photographer Nikita Teryoshin visited 16 arms fairs across every continent, gaining rare access to exclusive defense expos that are typically closed to the public. Through his lens, he reveals what happens behind the scenes of the global arms industry, shedding light on the business of war before conflicts unfold.
King, Queen, Knave
Gregory Halpern
Gregory Halpern has spent over two decades photographing Buffalo, New York, and its surroundings, creating the series that forms his latest monograph, King, Queen, Knave. The work offers a unique perspective on the city, challenging the typical narratives of post-industrial decline and instead embracing a surreal, enigmatic reality. Halpern’s captivating images unfold like a stage, where distinct and unpredictable characters emerge amidst solitary buildings, snowdrifts, and sun-drenched scenes of everyday transcendence.
I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears
Emilia Martin
In the dusty basement of an old house filled with astronomy antiques, a meteorite collector excitedly shares fragments of cosmic rocks, including one linked to the Siberian explosion that leveled a forest. While some meteorites look like ordinary stones, their true allure lies in the stories they carry—stories that bridge human history and the blurred line between fiction and fact. In her book I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears, artist Emilia Martin delves into these myths: meteorites as divine miracles, acts of gods or devils, objects of worship, or even powdered medicine. These myths reflect humanity’s reverence for meteorites as travelers from deep time—silent witnesses of outer space and the origins of life on Earth. Despite their profound history, they remain enigmatically silent, guarding their secrets as we weave narratives around them.
Developments
Tino Zimmermann
Tino Zimmermann’s photobook is a deeply personal exploration of the connections between creativity, working-class societies, addiction, and mental illness. Using images from his archive, Zimmermann reflects on six years of his life, beginning with his discovery of photography as self-therapy after a drug-induced schizophrenic episode. The book argues that societal rejection of young, creative individuals can lead to preventable struggles, focusing on depression as a widespread yet stigmatized issue. Designed entirely by the artist, the work aims to raise awareness, de-stigmatize mental health challenges, and resonate with neurodivergent individuals.
Gertrud
Maja Daniels
Unfortunately this book is quite hard to get hold of at the moment, but I wanna draw some attention to “Gertrud” by Maja Daniels, which I did have the chance to see in the flesh a few weeks ago: In 1667, 12-year-old Gertrud Svensdotter was accused of walking on water in Älvdalen, Sweden, sparking the Swedish witch-hunts—a time of mass hysteria and terror in the region. In Gertrud, artist Maja Daniels uses photography to reinterpret the history and mythology of these events, creating a contemporary conversation around Gertrud’s story.
