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PHOTO BOOKS & ZINES Notable Moments, Current Events
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This isn’t everything, it’s roughly twenty minutes of information.
PHOTOBOOKS
The photobook is a book of photographs by a photographer that has an overarching theme or follows a storyline — a convenient and reasonably cheap way of disseminating the work of a photographer to a mass audience. tate.org
A photobook is a book — with or without text — where the work’s primary message is carried by photographs. It is a book authored by a photographer or by someone editing or sequencing the work of a photographer, or even a number of photographers. It has a specific character, distinct from the photographic print (…) Gerry Badger
A photobook is an autonomous art form, comparable with a piece of sculpture, a play or a film. The photographs lose their own photographic character as things ‘in themselves’ and become parts, translated into printing ink, of a dramatic event called a book. Ralph Prins
Anna Atkins 1843-1853
William Henry Fox Talbot 1844-1846
Robert Frank
TIMELINE
1958
The Book of 101 Books 2001
Zanele Muholi 2017
A cyanotype from Atkins’ books.
ANNA ATKINS
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions 1843 “I have lately taken in hand a rather lengthy performance. It is the taking photographical impressions of all, that I can procure, of the British algae and confervae, many of which are so minute that accurate drawings of them are very difficult to make.� - Anna Atkins, 1843. *
First book entirely illustrated with photographs
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Every copy comprised of original prints
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Learned about cyanotypes from neighbor Sir John Herschel
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Documented algae, ferns, feathers, lace, and more in her works that came later
* Early work focused on scientific accuracy *
Later work focused on aesthetics
Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions Anna Atkins
WILLIAM HENRY FOX TALBOT
The Pencil of Nature 1844-46 “The photographs and texts proposed, with extraordinary prescience, a wide array of applications for the medium that included reproducing rare prints and manuscripts, recording portraits, inventorying possessions, representing architecture, tracing the form of botanical specimens, and making art.� - The Met Museum *
Created in an effort to encourage the mass production of paper photographs
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Contained 24 plates
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About 40 copies of the book exist today
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First commercially published photobook with original photographs inside
The Pencil of Nature William Henry Fox Talbot
ROBERT FRANK
The Americans 1958 Robert Frank: He sucked a sad poem right our of America onto film. Taking rank among the tragic poets of the world. - Jack Kerouac The Americans provided a social commentary and poetic undertone that was not seen in photobooks before. Frank was thorough and attentive in his documentation of people living all across America. *
Frank was a French commercial photographer prior to the book
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Influenced by America post WII
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Shot over 27,000 images, only used 83
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Documented a variety of different areas of the US
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Book showed racism, rising consumerism, people let down by their governments
* Also showed small moments of beauty
The Pencil of Nature William Henry Fox Talbot
ZANELE MUHOLI
Hail the Dark Lioness Years Active “I’m reclaiming my blackness, which I feel is continuously performed by the privileged other,” says South African photographer Zanele Muholi. “My reality is that I do not mimic being black; it is my skin, and the experience of being black is deeply entrenched in me. Just like our ancestors, we live as black people 365 days a year, and we should speak without fear.” -Muholi *
Unique printing of silver ink on black paper
* Speaks about various historical cases, such as the Marikana Massacre * Comprised entirely of self- portraits *
Inspired by fashion and politics
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Worked on the self portraits for over three years
Hail the Dark Lioness Zanele Muholi
The Book of 101 Books 2001 “Rare book maven Andrew Roth has turned his powers of judgment toward photography in The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the 20th Century. Given two full pages each, the selections receive a bibliographic and physical description and a publishing history, as well as cover images and a few choice samples of their contents there are 500 color illustrations in all. Volume one of Curtis’s 1907 The North American Indian kicks off the book, followed by plenty of other familiar luminaries, from Stieglitz to Ansel Adams to Henri Cartier-Bresson to Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin. Surprises include Max Ernst and Ren Crevel’s Mr. Knife Miss Fork, Bauhaus “phenom” Leszli MoholyNagy’s Malerei Fotografie Film, and Gilles Peress’s Telex Iran, to name a few. Essays by six scholars, artists and critics round out this unusual, beautifully produced collection.” -Publishers Weekly
ZINES
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any selfpublished unique work of minority interest, usually reproduced via photocopier. A popular definition includes that circulation must be 5,000 or less, although in practice the significant majority are produced in editions of less than 1,000. Profit is not the primary intent of publication. guides.lib.utexas.edu
A noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter. merriam-webster.com
Zines provide a safe, independent platform of expression for underrepresented and marginalized voices: Black, Indigenous & People of Color, young people, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ(+) community, persecuted religious groups, and people with limited economic resources. binderymke.com
Sci-fi Zines 1930s
Counter-Culture 1950-60
Art & Politics !970s
Punk Scene
TIMELINE
1980s
Riot Grrrl 1990s
E-Zines 1990s
1930S
1950S
In the 1930s, the term “zines� was derived from fanzines, or fan magazines, to develop a vehicle to share ones own stories. This was typically used to share science-fiction stories, which were growing rapidly in popularity during this time.
There was a huge growth in underground press. This was a crucial development in technology, opening the door to independent publishing for the decades to come. Independent publishing enabled people to have a voice separate from mainstream media.
1970S
1980S
To avoid the commercial art world, art and literary magazines began to create zines that combined art, politics, and activism. Producing their zines became significantly easier with the rise of copy-shops during this time.
This giant explosion of zine culture came about with the punk scene. Zines were used to advertise concerts, interview bands, and on a grand scale, challende authoritarianism with a push for counter culture. The zines were typically reproduced via photocopiers and were created in the “DIY� style.
1990S
Riot Grrrl The Riot Grrrl scene was an alternative to the male-dominated punk scene. Similar to the punk scene of the 80s, these zines celebrated music, but focused on girl groups. Riot Grrrl’s goal was to support the voices of women, as zines continued to provide people with a vehicle to share their ideas. “Whatever riot grrrl became—a political movement, an avantgarde, or an ethos—it began as a zine.” - Max Kessler for Paper.
E-Zines With the internet developing at a rapid speed, it only made sense that publications with a goal of accessability grew there. Zines moving online provided the community with a huge burst of communication. It was estimated that about 40,000 zines were being produced by 1993.
Newsprint
PRINTING, PUBLISHING & PAPER
newspaperclub.com lincoprinting.com
Risograph Printing odditiesprints.com directanglepress.com risolvestudio.com friendsmakebooks.com non-poro.us luckyrisograph.press tinysplendor.com
Offset Printing smartpress.com puritanpress.com mixam.com
Digital Publishing issuu.com flipsnack.com blurb.com lulu.com fliphtml5.com
Screenprinting
Inkjet Paper
odditiesprints.com smartpress.com
huntsphotoandvideo.com bhphotovideo.com
Letterpress odditiesprints.com directanglepress.com smartpress.com
Printmaking Paper smartpress.com frenchpaper.com
Intaglio Printing odditiesprints.com directanglepress.com smartpress.com
Inkjet Printing smartpress.com puritanpress.com mixam.com
guides.lib.utexas.edu/ merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zine binderymke.com/what-is-a-zine theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/may/06/fanzines-purest-explosion-punk-music-british-library-exhibition-punk-1976-1978 wired.com/2015/02/amazing-zines-kicked-geek-fandom/ pictures.abebooks.com/TREVIAN/15650603098.jpg blogs.lib.unc.edu/rbc/index.php/2017/10/25/a-brief-history-ofzines/ grrrlzines.net/overview.htm mentalfloss.com/article/88911/brief-history-zines madelife.com/history-of-zines/
CITATIONS
bjp-online.com/2018/04/show-zanele-muholis-somnyama-ngonyama-hail-the-dark-lioness/ metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267022 newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-shock-of-robert-franksthe-americans moma.org/artists/231 publicdomainreview.org/collection/cyanotypes-of-british-algae-by-anna-atkins-1843 gutenberg.org/files/33447/33447-h/33447-h.html photopedagogy.com/the-photobook.html davidcampany.com/the-photobook-whats-in-a-name/ tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/photobook medium.com/@ummarcelogarcia/what-is-a-photobook71c5d49e6477