1000 Words Photography Magazine #11

I am delighted to inform you that the third anniversary issue of 1000 Words "Hidden" is now available to view online.

Despite a recent period of frenetic activity during which we have participated in a panel discussion in Oslo, staged our workshop with Anders Petersen in Fez and presented a slideshow at Fotofestiwal, the tenth annual International Festival of Photography in Łódź, Poland, we have still managed to produce this issue in time for Spring.

So without further ado please go to: www.1000wordsmag.com















Keeping things from notice or view is the theme which underpins much of the photography that is featured in the "Hidden" issue.

Writer and curator Val Williams reports back from the Simon Norfolk and John Burke exhibition at Tate Modern, (Photographs from the War in Afghanistan); Photography critic at The Financial Times, Francis Hodgson wrestles with the work of Michael Ackerman in his special book review of Half Life and Daniel Campbell Blight also brings us an extended book review of People in Trouble Laughing Pushed to the Ground from the artist duo Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, an extraordinary social document of a critical moment in the history of Northern Ireland.

Elsewhere, photographer, editor, educator, writer and curator Aaron Schuman lifts the lid on the remarkable story of the late Vivian Maier whose work was discovered at an auction in Chicago by John Maloof; Director at QUAD, Co-founder of FORMAT International Photography Festival and 1000 Words Non-executive director Louise Clements turns her attention to How to Photograph a Black Dog, a witty and irreverent project by legendary Dutch art director, collector and innovator, Erik Kessels and finally Natasha Christia, Manager of photography at Barcelona's Kowasa Gallery, peeks into the portfolio of Martina Hoogland Ivanow, the hugely talented Stockholm-based artist.

In the dedicated books section 1000 Words Deputy editor, Michael Grieve pays his dues to Paul Graham's Beyong Caring and Oliver Whitehead puts Rinko Kawauchi's Murmuration under the scalpel.

At 1000 Words we strive to foreground the subjectivity of documentary photography whilst always exploring the limits and possibilities of the medium. Many thanks to all the artists, writers and advertisers for contributing to this special issue. A big hand must also go to Santiago Taccetti of CCCH Creative Studio Barcelona for his beautifully understated art direction on the project. We would also like to extend our thanks to you, our readers, for helping support 1000 Words throughout this exciting venture.

Special x-mas book offer!

Christmas is now fast approaching and what better present to give your photography-loving friends and family than a photobook. 1000 Words is offering its readers discounts on Magnum photographer Donovan Wylie´s Maze and Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 winner Paul Graham’s Monograph, courtesy of Steidl. To order your copy please contact tim(at)1000wordsmag(dot)com.

Please see below for more details:

Maze
Donovan Wylie
Steidl



















All images © Donovan Wylie/Magnum Photos

Between 2002 and 2003 Donovan Wylie spent almost a hundred days photographing inside the Maze prison. Through its history of protests, hunger strikes and escapes, this prison, holding both republican and loyalist prisoners, became synonymous with the Northern Ireland conflict. After the Belfast peace agreement in 1998, inmates were gradually released, but the Maze remained open.

Wylie was then the only photographer granted official and unlimited access to the site, when the demolition of the prison began, symbolizing the end of the conflict in 2007. He systematically recorded its demise. The photographs which document this period are divided into four sections, each depicting a “layer” of the prison: the internal walls, the various modes of fencing, the H-blocks and, finally, the perimeter walls, which reveal the external landscape. Eventually this once-enclosed space is reintegrated with the outside world.

First published in 2004 to critical acclaim, this new edition of Maze comes in three volumes: Maze 2002/03, Maze 2007/08, and The Architecture of Containment.

Special price for 1000 Words readers: £45.00
Free shipping within the United Kingdom available

Essay and historical chronology by Louise Purbrick
206 pages, 150 colour plates
29.5 cm x 23.5 cm
Two hardcover books and a singer-stitched booklet housed in a slipcase
Steidl
ISBN: 978-3-86521-907-7
Publication date: April 2009

Paul Graham
Monograph
Steidl


















All images © Paul Graham

Paul Graham is one of that remarkable generation of photographers born in the 1950’s who have come to dominate art photography today and who dedicated themselves to photography at a time when it was unwelcome in the art world. This book is the long awaited survey of 25 years of his photography, 1981-2006, to coincide with a large scale touring European museum exhibition. Graham was the first photographer to unite contemporary colour photography with the classic genre of social documentary.

His colour work in the early and mid-1980s had a transformative effect on the black and white tradition that had dominated British photography to that point. Since this ground breaking early work, and what sets Graham apart from his peers of that time, is that rather than rest on such achievements, he has continued to radically explore the medium for the next two decades, showing a profound commitment to expanding photography’s artistic space, whilst remaining faithful to that core locus where the documentary and artistic aspects of photography coalesce.

At a time when art photography is increasingly staged, or holds the world at a conceptualized distant view, Paul Graham's work distinguishes itself by retaining a firm and full commitment to life as it unfolds; to an understanding that at its core photography begins with an unblinking engagement with the world. Embracing this crucial axiom of photography, Graham's work of the past 25 years has been vital in reinvigorating the core of photographic practice, both by broadening it's visual language, and essentially, by questioning our notions of what such photography could say, be, or look like.

Special price for 1000 Words readers: £32.00
Free shipping within the United Kingdom available

Essays by David Chandler, Michael Almereyda
and Russell Ferguson
376 pages, 250 colour plates
22.5 cm x 28 cm
Hardcover
steidlMACK
ISBN: 978-3-86521-858-2
Publication date: July 2009

Paul Graham wins Deutsche Börse Photography Prize!

©Paul Graham

Paul Graham (b. 1956, UK), has been awarded the 2009 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. At a special ceremony on Wednesday 25 March 2009, Jefferson Hack, co-founder of Dazed & Confused, presented the £30,000 award. The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 is presented by The Photographers’ Gallery and is on show until 12 April 2009.

The Prize is awarded to an international photographer for their significant contribution to the medium of photography through either an exhibition or publication, in Europe between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008. Paul Graham won for his publication a shimmer of possibility (steidlMACK, October 2007).

a shimmer of possibility comprises twelve individual volumes of photographic short stories of life in contemporary America. Graham infuses lyricism into the most mundane of everyday human activities – fetching mail or lighting a cigarette – and creates quiet photographic moments, ‘filmic haikus’, which suggest and hint at a narrative but ultimately remain open-ended. At once poetic and political, his photographs manage to draw out something truly profound from the almost-nothingness of everyday life.

Paul Graham was chosen by the Jury members, David Campany (writer/lecturer, University of Westminster, UK); David Goldblatt (photographer, South Africa); Chus Martínez (Chief Curator, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain); and Anne-Marie Beckmann (Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Germany).

The other shortlisted artists in this year’s Prize, each awarded £3,000, are:

Emily Jacir (b.1970, Kuwait), Tod Papageorge (b.1940, USA) and Taryn Simon (b.1975, USA). The selection this year reflects the diversity of contemporary photographic practice and highlights issues of critical importance in our lives. For further information on each of the photographers’ work on display please visit the gallery website: www.photonet.org.uk

Brett Rogers, non-voting Chair and Director of The Photographers’ Gallery said, on behalf of the jury: ‘a shimmer of possibility sees Paul Graham pushing the photographic medium in many ways – through his acute observation of ‘bare’ life and diagnosis of the mood of contemporary America through its smallest details. Few photographic projects ever reach this level of subtlety, sensitivity and complexity.’

Alexandra Hachmeister, Head of Corporate Responsibility for Deutsche Börse, stated: ‘As title sponsor for the fifth year, we are delighted how the reputation of the Prize has developed, being the most prestigious photography prize in Europe today. We thank all those who have contributed – the Gallery staff, the Academy, the jury and above all the artists. We congratulate Paul Graham on being awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009.’

The Gallery is delighted to have been collaborating with Deutsche Börse Group as sponsors of the Photography Prize since 2005. Deutsche Börse Group is one of the world largest exchange organisations and a major sponsor of photographic art. Further information on Deutsche Börse Group and its photography collection can be found at www.deutsche-boerse.com/art

The exhibition will tour to C/O Berlin (29 May – 29 June 09) and to Frankfurt in late Summer.