PHOTO-EYE BEST BOOKS 2018

Jörg Colberg's favorite book from 2018

This year one particular book struck a chord with me: Barbara Bosworth's The Heavens. I don't know if it's the best book this year (how can there be such a thing?), but for sure it's the one that touched me the most. I can't stop looking at it not because I used to be an astrophysicist, but because the artist didn't attempt to be one. Instead, these photographs hint at the sublime beauty that we all feel in the presence of celestial bodies, and they even endow the moon and sun with characters. The photographs in this book are all felt, not seen — and that's really the best an artist can hope for.

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Jörg M. Colberg is a writer, photographer, and educator based in Northampton, Massachusetts. www.cphmag.com

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Jörg Colberg's favorite book from 2018

I consider Mari Katayama to be one of today's most interesting artists. While photography plays a prominent role in her process (she serves as her own model), sculptural elements are also added to her installations. The work itself is bold and daring. It focuses on the fact that Katayama was born with tibial hemimelia, which resulted in a cleft left hand and deformed legs, which she had amputated as a young child.

Gift is a retrospective catalog that shakes the viewer to the core, starting right with the bold cover image. In a world of photography that currently feels too static, too safe, and too satisfied with itself, here is an artist showing just how much more is possible.

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Jörg Colberg is a writer, photographer, and educator currently based in Northampton, MA. He is founder and editor of CPhMag.com

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Jörg Colberg's favorite book from 2018

It's rare for those who often find themselves as the subjects of photographers to be able to take their own pictures, to show how they see the world they live in. Sirkhane DARKROOM is a community project in Southeastern Turkey that is run by Serbest Salih, a photographer and refugee from Syria, and that teaches children and adolescents photography. Edited by Liv Constable-Maxwell and Morgan Crowcroft-Brown, i saw the air fly showcases a number of photographs made at the workshop. A modest and unassuming production, the book packs a hefty punch: these photographers might not have much, but their lives still are full of enjoyment and creative curiosity. They are, after all, human beings, much like the rest of us. The end result is surprisingly touching and a reminder that we — living in the privileged West and voting for people who keep those looking for our help out — can and should do better.

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Jörg Colberg is a writer, photographer, and educator currently based in Northampton, MA.

CPhMag.com / jmcolberg.com // @joergmc / @vater.land