Blink: 100 Photographers, 10 Curators, 10 Writers Book

Take 10 internationally renowned curators and ask them to choose 10 of the world's best photographers: the result is Blink, a stunning Phaidon book containing hundreds of beautifully reproduced photographs by acclaimed photographers from all over the world. A "snapshot of the world of contemporary photography", Blink brings together curators as diverse as Marcelo Brodsky, Alasdair Foster, Shino Kuraishi and Simon Njami to introduce and write about "the kaleidoscope of ideas, approaches and techniques that is photography today". Cleverly, the curators keep their comments on each of their chosen photographers to a minimum, allowing the photography to speak for itself. Artists are introduced by a very brief essay by their respective curators, followed by a short bibliography and four pages of photos. The geographical and artistic range of the collection is extremely impressive. From the worlds of fashion photography, represented by Tina Barney and Steven Klein's "daring and courageous" pictures of Brad Pitt, to the politically charged work of Milagros de la Torre, Manit Sriwanichpoom and Sanja Ivekovic's extraordinary images of contemporary female models juxtaposed with the titles of Second World War Resistance heroines, the collection reveals the sheer range of breadth of contemporary photography. Blink seamlessly embraces fashion, documentary and digital photography. In the work of Samuel Fosso and Diana Thorneycroft it captures the ways in which the camera is transforming how we understand our bodies, while the disturbingly banal photos of Tierney Gearon and Paul M Smith change the way we look at our everyday domestic world. These are just some of the wonderful photographers and images captured in this sumptuous book, which reveals the vibrancy of photography at the beginning of the 21st century.--Jerry BrottonRead More