Book recommendations: collections and memories
Forget me not: Photography and remembrance by Geoffrey Batchen, published by Princeton Architectural Press.
A fascinating look into how photography and memory are intricately woven together. How photography both captures memory but can also hide the truth. A critical discussion on the role of photographs in family and history how photos have the power to alter and even block memories. How photographs have been embellished over the years and have become hybrid objects with magic and power in them. If you are interested in knowing more about the history of photography, mainly portraiture and family photography then this is a wonderful journey and excellent resource.
Speck: a curious collection of uncommon things by Peter Buchanan-Smith, published by Princeton Architectural Press
This book provides a different way to see your environment, through the eyes of objects, left over detritus from every day life. This book is a series of quirky art experiments, that encourage the viewer and help the artist to think and look deeper at ordinary things that might otherwise pass them by. One artist in the book, Amy, loves to poke around in trash cans looking for objects that resemble the alphabet, another contributer collects samples of dirt and smog and water from his travels. There are ticket collections, scribble collections and cat whisker collections, photos of used lipsticks, and discarded newspapers. One experiment involved leaving slices of bread in various locations around the city and then documenting what happened to them. I keep coming back to this book for a second, third and fourth viewing, it is addictive and each time I find something different to focus on. My kids also love this book too, they are as fascinated by it as I am.
