Laura Wexler – författare

An expansive look at portraiture, identity, and inequality as seen in Dorothea Lange’s iconic photographs  Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) aimed to make pictures that were, in her words, “important and useful.” Her decades-long investigation of how photography could articulate people’s core values and sense of self helped to expand our current understanding of portraiture and the meaning of documentary practice.  Lange’s sensitive portraits showing the common humanity of often marginalized people were pivotal to public understanding of vast social problems in the twentieth century. Compassion guided Lange’s early portraits of Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as her depictions of striking workers, migrant farmers, rural African Americans, Japanese Americans in internment camps, and the people she met while traveling in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.  Drawing on new research, the authors look at Lange’s roots in studio portraiture and demonstrate how her influential and widely seen photographs addressed issues of identity as well as social, economic, and racial inequalities—topics that remain as relevant for our times as they were for hers.Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, WashingtonExhibition Schedule:  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC(November 5, 2023–March 31, 2024)

A revolutionary history of photography from a stellar team of writers and thinkers that challenges all existing narratives by focusing on the complex collaborations between photographer and subject. This groundbreaking and multifaceted history explores photography through the lens of collaboration, and in so doing challenges the dominant narratives around photographic history and authorship. Led by five of photography’s great thinkers and practitioners, it breaks apart the ‘single creator’ tradition by bringing to light tangible traces of collaboration – the various relationships, exchanges and interactions which occur between all participants in the event of photography. Over 115 photography projects are surveyed in eight thematic chapters, and presented non-hierarchically alongside quotes, testimonies and concise texts by guest contributors. These networks of texts and images provide perspective on a vast array of photographic themes, from Araki’s provocative portraits of women to archival files from the Spanish Civil War. With more than 550 photographs and over 100 text contributors, Collaboration is an inspiration for teaching and an open invitation to scholars, activists, photographers and others to practice always with and alongside others, and to participate actively in this engagement and enquiry.

An epic visual history of the places, people, mythologies and realities of America across eight decades from the renowned photography collective, Magnum Photos. Magnum America is not a comprehensive photographic history of the United States, but rather draws on stories from the Magnum Archives to ask: What is ‘America’? Arranged into decade-by-decade chapters spanning from the 1940s to the present day – complete with timelines, story-led individual portfolios and collective portfolios – Magnum America places ordinary and extraordinary people and events side by side, offering a moving interpretation of the nation’s past and present, whilst calling into question its future. This expansive publication features over 600 illustrations from photographers including Bruce Davidson, Wayne Miller, Eve Arnold, Martin Parr, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Bieke Depoorter, Paul Fusco, Susan Meiselas, Sabiha Çimen and Leonard Freed. Edited by Magnum photographer Peter van Agtmael and Professor Laura Wexler, who also contributes an introductory essay, Magnum America is complemented by a computational analysis and data visualization by Lauren Tilton and Taylor Arnold that works to unpack the myth and mystery of the United States of America. Breathtaking in scope and abundant with the photographic riches and intelligent, insightful authorship for which Magnum’s photographers are renowned, Magnum America is a vital contribution to the documentation of contemporary American history and a landmark photobook.

A new, revolutionary history of photography from a stellar team of writers and thinkers that challenges all existing narratives by focusing on the complex collaborations between photographer and subject. Collaboration presents a groundbreaking and multifaceted history of photography which explores photography through the lens of collaboration, challenging the dominant narratives around photographic history and authorship. In a vast, collaborative effort led by five of the great thinkers and practitioners in photography that includes more than 550 photographs and over 80 text contributors, this book breaks apart photography’s ‘single creator’ tradition by bringing to light tangible traces of collaboration – the various relationships, exchanges and interactions which occur between all participants in the event of photography. This book will provide the keys to understanding and decoding the complex politics of seeing. The conditions of collaboration in photography are explored through over 100 photography projects, divided into eight thematic chapters. The photographs from each project are presented non-hierarchically alongside quotes, testimonies, and short texts by guest contributors. These networks of texts and images provide perspective on a vast array of photographic themes, from Araki’s provocative portraits of women to archival files from the Spanish Civil War. Collaboration is not an ultimate account of what photography is, does, or means. Rather, the book is an inspiration for teaching and an open invitation to scholars, activists, photographers and others to practice always with and alongside others and participate actively in this engagement and enquiry.