THE JOURNAL
Amy, Phil and Brian, 1980. Photograph by Ms Tina Barney, courtesy of Radius Books
It’s widely understood that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – but can you judge a person by their book collection? If you ask us, it’s not entirely wrong. The books we choose to read are signifiers not only of taste, but of our wider interests and personalities. With that in mind, we’ve curated an edit of the most exciting new photobooks to escape into (and add character to your living space). Think cult and lesser-known photographers, from Mr Issei Suda’s snapshots of Tokyo’s street life and Mr Martin Parr’s portrayal of English small-town living to Ms Tina Barney’s photographic exploration of her formative years. They’re sure to give the right impression on any shelf or coffee table.
01.
Anarene by Mr Mikel Bastida
Image courtesy of Editorial RM
An interest in cinema and history, along with a penchant for staged images, has defined the career of Spanish photographer Mr Mikel Bastida – and is evident in his latest body of work, Anarene. The photobook captures the titular ghost town in Archer County, Texas, which was previously brought to fame by Mr Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show – itself adapted from the novel by Mr Larry McMurtry. This book, meanwhile, catalogues Bastida’s eight-year photographic project in pursuit of the forgotten stories, people and places of Hollywood.
Photograph by Mr Mikel Bastida, courtesy of Editorial RM
02.
Monogusa Shui by Mr Issei Suda
Image courtesy of Akio Nagasawa Publishing
First appearing in the Japanese magazine Nippon Camera in the early 1980s, Mr Issei Suda’s photographic series makes its debut in its entirety in Monogusa Shui, newly published by Ginza gallery and publisher Akio Nagasawa. The captivating images offer glimpses of everyday Tokyo life: “I can’t help but feel that there is some kind of spiritual power also in objects. No matter whether it’s naturally grown plants or artificially made objects, I just believe that such things exist,” Suda wrote in the December 1980 issue of Nippon Camera. “Whenever I happen to capture something like that in a photograph, I feel that it has an inner life, something deep inside that comes out and appeals in some way to those who look at it.”
Haneda, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 1981. Photograph by Mr Issei Suda, courtesy of Akio Nagasawa Publishing
03.
A Year In The Life Of Chew Stoke Village by Mr Martin Parr
Image courtesy of RRB Photobooks
Some three decades ago, one of the most prominent documentary photographers of the time, Mr Martin Parr, was commissioned to document the daily life of Chew Stoke, a small village in Somerset, for a year. From weddings and school drop-offs to fitness classes, pub crawls and routine gardening – like the image below – the ironic yet starkly human photographs portray the everyday life and activities of the small-town English parish that welcomed Parr (and his collaborator, journalist Mr Robert Chesshyre) amid community tensions in the early 1990s.
Mowing the lawn, Chew Stoke, 1992. Photograph by Mr Martin Parr/Magnum Photos, courtesy of RRB Photobooks
04.
Water by Mr Ian Berry
Image courtesy of courtesy of GOST Books
Water reflects Magnum photographer Mr Ian Berry’s 15-year-long exploration of our complex relationship with water and its environmental precariousness. This book is a “culmination of all those years of work which show how the health of the planet may be conserved as well as some aspects of man’s carelessness with his surroundings,” Berry writes for the book’s Kickstarter campaign. “It’s full of pictures that show the role water has played since ancient times in religious rituals, images of the joy and camaraderie of women and children around standpipes put in place by our NGOs, and the graceful beauty of a windfarm in the misty distance of the sea.” In the age of climate anxiety, this is an urgent and timely book.
Edfu, Aswan, Egypt, 2006. Photograph by Mr Ian Berry, courtesy of GOST Books
05.
The Beginning by Ms Tina Barney
Image courtesy of Radius Books
The Beginning is an introspective body of work that traces the first years of the legendary American photographer Ms Tina Barney’s illustrious career. During Covid, she revisited hundreds of 35mm negatives taken between 1976 and 1980 from her archive. The images – portraits of family and friends taken in the summers spent on the East Coast and in Sun Valley, Idaho – inspired Barney create this book, a reflection on her modus operandi and approach to photography and subjects of the time.
Yellow Towels #1, 1979. Photograph by Ms Tina Barney, courtesy of Radius Books
06.
Never Done by Mr Ari Marcopoulos
Image courtesy of JRP Editions
Mr Ari Marcopoulos’ latest tome features more than 600 photographs taken between 2009 and 2018 and since serialised chronologically. From the photographer’s own family and friends to urban scenes and references to the Obama and Trump eras in the US, Never Done is an unbridled account of a decade in Marcopoulos’ life. The photos, shot in his self-taught, intimate style, are accompanied by an essay from art critic, Mr Bob Nickas. “Picture-making for him must be a necessity, an aspect of being alive, of holding on to people and places,” writes Nickas. “This, of course, is an impossibility, though surely one of the key factors in its pursuit… Ari Marcopoulos may only appear in a few of these pictures, but of course he is in every one of them.”
Untitled, May 13, 2022. Photograph by Mr Ari Marcopoulos, courtesy of JRP Editions