For Hafiz, Sabiha Çimen‘s spent a handful of years photographing young women and girls at a hifz school in Istanbul. For many viewers it may be eye opening, it may humanize or familiarize; for me, it’s all fairly normal: school uniforms are terribly common, and women, young or old, wearing hijab and modest clothing just …
Author Archives: James Cockroft
Best _____ of 2021
I had no plans to do a best of list this year, but then someone on YouTube suggested I do something like that, and I said I’d think about it, so here we are…
Jindřich Štreit – ‘Village People: 1965-1990’
Jindřich Štreit‘s Village People: 1965-1990 presents Štreit’s work in various Czechoslovakian villages during the waning years of Communism. It was Charcoal Book Club’s photobook of the month for November, 2021.
Bumdog Torres – ‘#findthebumdog’
#findthebumdog: A Homeless Man’s Development as a Street Photographer While Living on the Streets traces Bumdog Torres’ path from having a faint idea of a single project, to being a fully realized art curator, filmmaker, and photographer with multiple gallery shows, feature-length films, and a handful of photobooks to his credit. If, like me, you …
Panoramic Park Views
I love the little Minolta Freedom Vista (Riva Panorama) camera I scored in a $50 grab bag from Dad last year. I don’t always have a roll of film in it, but I should…
Blake Andrews – ‘Need Clean Fill’
Back in 2020, I saw something about @swerdnaekalb‘s zine on his Instagram. I had a brief Insta-chat with him and thought I arranged to purchase a signed copy from him, but I’m pretty sure he thought I dropped it. Oh well. During his interview with Simon Kossoff, Andrews mentioned his zine again, and I jumped …
Simon Kossoff – ‘Sonder’ and ‘Descendant’
I learned about Kossoff and his zines from the Blake Andrews’ interview last month (November 2021), and when I found Bump Books offering both of his zines for £10.00, I jumped at the chance.