Steidl Publishers – förlag

Social and cultural transition is often hard to gauge. New York in the 1980s and the first half of the ’90s was clearly a different place than it is now: the city was more violent, the street stranger, and Times Square still wonderfully sleazy. Andrew Savulich’s subject is this perpetually changing metropolis, and his images are a unique mix of spot news and street photography, capturing crime scenes as well as everyday life. The startling immediacy of the moment prevails in his black-andwhite images on which he provides handwritten captions. What at first seems like objective commentary soon reveals Savulich’s dry ironic tone, at times bordering on black humor.

Martin Parr’s collection of photobooks is one of the finest to have ever been assembled and The Protest Box is a box set which brings together five books from that collection as facsimile reprints. Parr has selected diverse books which each deal with the subject of protest in quite different ways. From the documentation of various protest movements to the actual book being a form of protest, all these reprints are gems within the history of photographic publishing. A few are known but many are new, even to the connoisseur of photography books. All these books are virtually impossible to locate, so these reprints will make a substantial contribution to our understanding of this sub-genre of the photobook. The box set is accompanied by a booklet which includes an introduction by Martin Parr, an essay discussing the wider context of these books by Gerry Badger, and English translations of all the texts in the books. Enrique Bostelmann América: un Viaje a traves de la injustica First published in 1970 by Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico City; Bostelmann, a Mexican photographer, journeyed through Latin America looking for examples of injustice, such as the exploitation of indigenous Indians who were forced into factories and menial jobs. Paolo Gasparini Para verte major, América Latina First published in 1972 by Siglo XXI Editores, Mexico City; Gasparini, an Italian born photographer who has lived in Caracas most of his life, traversed Latin America to document the contrast between communism and capitalism. The book also documents and uses graffiti and graphics to emphasis his polemic. Dirk Alvermann Algeria First published in 1961 in Berlin, GDR; Alvermann, a photographer originally born in West Germany, published his book about both sides of the Algerian conflict in East Berlin. The radical design was inspired by Russian film stills. Kitai Kazuo Sanrizuka First published in 1971 by Nora-Sha, Tokyo; a classic protest book which shows the huge popular uprising inspired by the proposed building of Narita airport. Paolo Mattioli and Anna Candiani Immagini del No First published in 1974 by Occhio Magico No 11, Milan; this small format book documented various protests in Italy, from the Feminist Movement to Anti-Fascism marches.

Hack Wit is a playful and complex body of work developed between 2013 and 2015, using clichés or proverbs and watercolor. For each work, the artist made two watercolors of a different proverb, cut them apart and then combined them into one. The Canadian poet Anne Carson wrote the text Hack Gloss in response to the “Hack Wit” drawings.