Pictures and Words
January 2, 2022 6:10 PM   Subscribe

Photographer Alec Soth has been making videos from his home library in Minnesota, drawing on its substantial contents. In a series of videos he discusses the pairing of photographs and words in books: one, two, three, four, and maybe more to come.

In his words:
"The way I’m thinking of these videos is almost like someone coming here to visit me in my library and saying ‘Hey, what’s a cool book?’ or ‘What have you been looking at lately?’ and me just talking about this and that and what’s on my mind and so forth."
The books discussed:

1 (25:25)

The “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” fotonovel
The photographic comic book, "Amor Y Futbol"
Various children's books ("Pal and Peter," "Marjorie's Literary Dolls," "The Lonely Doll", "An Apartment House Close Up")
"Say, is this the U.S.A." by Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke-White
"An American Exodus" by Dorothea Lange and Paul S. Taylor
"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee and Walker Evans
"American Photographs" by Walker Evans

2 (13:51)

"Tobe" by Stella Gentry Sharpe and Charles Farrell
"12 Million Black Voices" by Richard Wright (with FSA photographs)
"The Sweetflypaper of Life" by Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes
A Roy DeCarava exhibition catalog

3 (33:02)

"Pengar Eller Livet" by Carl Johan De Geer and Jan Hammerz (1970)
"Provoke 1" (1968)
"Sashin yo Sayonara (Bye Bye Photography)" by Daido Moriyama (1972)
"PROVOKE" (2016)
"Wakaranai” (I Don't Know)" by Masafumi Sanai (1998)
"Utatane" by Rinko Kawauchi, (2001)
"Kissa by Kissa" by Craig Mod (2020)

4 (30:17)

"I'm Looking Through You" by Tim Davis
"Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" by Gilles Peress

Soth's YouTube channel, which he started at the beginning of 2021, includes other "rambles" about photo-books in his collection. Buttressing his compelling observations is an effective filming set up that gives the tangible feeling of flipping through the books with him.
posted by waninggibbon (2 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
These are really pleasing to watch -- thanks.
posted by bullitt 5 at 9:56 PM on January 2, 2022


Nice, bookmarked. Soth has long been a favorite of mine. Got to see a great exhibition of his work in Columbus a few years ago.
posted by octothorpe at 10:16 AM on January 3, 2022


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