Kris Graves

Kris Graves Receives the NighthawkNYC NoteWorthy PhotoBook of the Year Award

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Over its 8 3/4 years of existence, the name Kris Graves has appeared in the pages of NighthawkNYC.com as much, and probably more often, than any other Photographer. Why? No one else is doing what he is doing.

On the one hand, he co-founded and runs one of the foremost Artist-owned publishing companies there is: Kris Graves Projects. Since its founding, KGP has given a voice to a remarkable list of Artists, releasing first-class publications at affordable prices, which lead to their books routinely selling out. More recently, he founded the Monolith imprint, “dedicated to showcasing work from artists of color across mediums that address issues of race, identity, equity, gender, sexuality, and class.” Exceedingly open to new talent, many of the Artists he’s published received their first opportunity to have a PhotoBook of their work published. Some are “names” now; a testament to his taste.

As if this isn’t enough, Kris Graves, himself, has created an important body of Photography that looks at our time, and the past, with a unique vision, one that foregrounds what it is to be Black in America today, while living with the past. The culmination of his work to this point is his 2023 book, Privileged Mediocrity (published by Monolith with Hatje Cantz), one of my two NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of 2023. He published the other, Jon Henry’s Stranger Fruit.

Since I don’t believe “best” exists in the Arts, I started publishing annual Noteworthy PhotoBook lists (and NoteWorthy Art Book lists) of the books I most highly recommend in 2018. Since that time, one of Kris Graves’s self-authored books, or one of the books he’s published has been one of my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of the Year in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023! (I didn’t do a list in 2022.)

Verso.

Let’s break it down…

In 2018, Kris Graves Project’s 10-volume set, LOST, was one of my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of 2018. The set includes Mr. Graves’s book Long Island City.

In 1019, KGP’s TWENTY-volume LOST II was one of my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of 2019.  I wrote about the making of the set, which I called “monumental” at the time, here. It remains my personal favorite of the 4 LOST sets. LOST II includes The Bronx by Kris Graves.

In 2020,  Kris Graves Projects was my NoteWorthy PhotoBook Publisher of the Year for somehow managing to publish EIGHTEEN books during the height of the pandemic when working with ANYone else was extremely challenging to say the least. In addition, Mr. Graves took extensive trips documenting the Black Lives Matter Protests throughout the South, creating a body of work that would become the classic Privileged Mediocrity in 2023, at considerable personal risk. 2020 also saw him introduce the Monolith imprint.

2021 saw Electronic Landscape by Isaac Diggs & Edward Hillel, published by KGP, make the list under the “Excellent & Under the Radar” category. The book has since gone on to achieve legendary status.

After not doing a list in 2022 for personal reasons, Mr. Graves returned as the author/Photographer of one of the only two NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2023, and the publisher of the other, as I’ve said.

That’s pretty remarkable. And especially Worthy of Note, no?

And the winner is…Kris Graves at his KGP booth at AIPAD: The Photography Show, April 26, 2024.

Informing him that the only two books on my 2023 list were his, I told him I should just give him the trophy, he’s been on my list so many times. “If there is one, I want it,” he replied. So, I decided to make him a NighthawkNYC.com PhotoBook of the Year Trophy, shown in the first picture, which I have nicknamed “The Golden Oof,” in honor of my avatar, Oof the Owl (What’s the deal with me and Owls? “Sava” means Owl). 

Kris Graves with team member & book designer, Caleb Cain Marcus.

On April 26th, I presented it to him at his booth at AIPAD: The Photography Show. Also present was his team member, the wonderfully talented book designer Caleb Cain Marcus, who designed both books on my 2023 list. In addition to being an Artist, himself, Mr. Marcus has designed a number of Kris Graves Projects recent books, including their newest release, the 10-volume LOST IV, among books for any number of others. 

Holding down the fort at AIPAD: The Photography Show, 2024, with both of the 2023 NoteWorthy PhotoBooks. What other PhotoBook Award gives an actual trophy?

In a world of many fine Art & PhotoBook publishers, Kris Graves’s work consistently stands out. He has something of John Hammond’s gift for finding new talent and often pairs them with more established Artists in his LOST series to democratic effect that lets their work speak for itself in beautiful and affordable books- even in the face of raging inflation. While his books regularly sell out, a sure sign of public acceptance, I’ve been surprised his work and accomplishments haven’t been more widely recognized. Privileged Mediocrity and Jon Henry’s Stranger Fruit are classic cases in point. Look through a copy of either and you’ll see what I mean.

“Propose a toast
Let’s hear it for the spirits and the ghosts
Rejoices for the voices in my gut and in my dome
Are why I never drink alone
I think that’s noteworthy”*

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “Noteworthy” by Queens own Homeboy Sandman from Dusty. KGP is based in Long Island City, Queens.

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NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2023- Two Masterpieces

This site is Free & Ad-Free! If you find this piece worthwhile, please donate via PayPal to support it & independent Art writing. You can also support it by buying Art & books! Details at the end. Thank you.

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

PhotoBooks completely took over my life for over 6 years from 2016 through 2022, during which time I immersed myself in Modern & Contemporary Photography (which for me is the period after the publication of Robert Frank’s The Americans in 1958-9). After not publishing a NoteWorthy PhotoBooks list for 2022, two books stood out for me among the PhotoBooks I saw this year. Since I don’t believe the “best” exists in the Arts, I prefer to call them “NoteWorthy,” i.e. books I most highly recommend among all those I saw in 2023. Both are among the most powerful books I’ve seen in years. In my opinion, both books are masterpieces. Other recommended books follow them.

Both NoteWorthy PhotoBooks have two people in common. One, Kris Graves is no stranger to this list. His A Bleak Reality was a NoteWorthy PhotoBook of 2021. His publishing company Kris Graves Projects/Monolith Editions was the NoteWorthy PhotoBook Publisher of 2020 when they somehow managed to publish EIGHTEEN books during the pandemic! This year, Mr. Graves is the Photographer/Artist/Author of one of the two, and he and his Monolith Editions is the publisher of both books (co-publisher with Hatje Cantz of one). As a result, Kris Graves Projects/Monolith Editions are the NoteWorthy PhotoBook Publisher, again, for 2023.

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2023

Jon Henry, Stranger Fruit, Monolith Editions

In a word: overwhelming.

“Stranger Fruit was created in response to the senseless murders of black men across the nation by police violence. Even with smart phones and dash cams recording the actions, more lives get cut short due to unnecessary and excessive violence. Who is next? Me? My brother? My friends?” Jon Henry

Mr Henry continues, “Lost in the furor of media coverage, lawsuits and protests is the plight of the mother. Who, regardless of the legal outcome, must carry on without her child. I set out to photograph mothers with their sons in their environment, reenacting what it must feel like to endure this pain. The mothers in the photographs have not lost their sons, but understand the reality, that this could happen to their family.”

The way Mr. Henry has chosen to depict these mothers and sons is in the form known in Painting and Sculpture as the “Pieta” (or pity). Traditionally, Jesus’s mother, Mary, holds her dead son on her lap after the Crucifixion. The “Pieta” has long been among the most powerful and poignant compositions in Western Art. To this point, and for the past 800 years, it’s been the exclusive realm of Painters and Sculptors (most famously Michelangelo).

Along comes Jon Henry, who shows that they can be every bit as powerful in Photography- even without a directly religious reference. He has chosen it to depict the unspeakable pain mothers of murdered Black sons must have experienced in the unique way of depicting mothers holding their living sons. I asked Mr. Henry how he came to use it in Stranger Fruit–

 “I grew up studying painting and religious iconography by way of stained glass windows in the church I worked in, so I was very familiar with the motif.  There were more contemporary uses of the pieta, such as Dr David Driskell and Renee Cox, that really made me believe I could use this as the vehicle behind this project.
But everything really revolved around the mother.  I know that my work is not the first to speak about police brutality in the african american community but I felt the mothers were left out of the conversation.  Focusing on them through this mother/son relationship was why the pieta made so much sense for me.”

 In Stranger Fruit (which is named after the Abel Meeropol 1937 song, “Strange Fruit,” protesting the lynching of Black Americans, and immortalized by Billie Holiday) we also get to hear from them. Most of the images are accompanied by a text written by the mother.

I was stunned when I picked this book up for the first time. As far as I know, no one has done anything like this before. Yes, there are combat images from too many wars and conflicts already that are Pietas. Yet, I’ve never seen an entire book of them, and only them. I asked Kris Graves how he discovered Jon, this remarkable body of work, and came to publish Stranger Fruit. He said, “I met Jon some years before the pandemic and he was already hard at work on the project. I told him then that I’d love to publish the work when he felt it was complete. During covid, I founded Monolith and it was an even better fit for the ideals of Stranger Fruit. Soon after, we reconnected and started production.”

The 600 copies of the 1st printing of Stranger Fruit have sold out. I’m told the recently announced 2nd printing is selling quickly. I look forward to the time when it’s no longer vital as a document of immediate social import, to when it can just be appreciated as a work of Art.

Kris Graves, Privileged Mediocrity, Monolith Editions/Hatje Cantz

One of the most important PhotoBooks released this century, Privileged Mediocrity is Kris Graves’s masterpiece among his fine books thus far, in my opinion.

From Part I- The Murder of Alton Sterling, Baton Rouge

Years in the making, involving extensive stretches of travel during the height of the covid pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Protests, at what must have been considerable personal risk, in the days leading to the birth of his first child, it feels to me like this is the book his work has been building toward all along.

From Part I– Slave Market, Charleston

It’s divided into three sections: “Part I: Privileged Mediocrity & The Deceived Within,” “Part II: A Southern Horror, 2020,” and “Part III: A Latency, 2000-2022.” Though Part I sets the stage  with images from NYC, New York State and Boston as well as the South, the book is centered on the South in Parts II & III. Mr. Graves visited innumerable Confederate monuments throughout the South, and shows them before, during and after the protests.

From Part II

“Part II: A Southern Horror, 2020,” is gravely presented with black & white Photos on black paper in which Mr. Graves inventories many of these problematic monuments by state and their connection to racism, which is downright chilling to see on page after page- 46 pages in all- many with up to 8 sites on a page! “Part III Latency 2000-22” shows many of these sites during and after the protests.

From Part III- George Floyd Projection, Richmond, Virginia. National Geographic Magazine put this image on the cover of its “Photos of the Year, 2020” issue. I asked Kris what he remembers about taking this classic and historic image. He said, “A few days into my Richmond trip, I was introduced to the projectionist, who was working at the protests. On a clear night, he set up at the Lee Monument and I headed out around midnight. It was lively out there, but peaceful. The projections of dozens that were killed by police were displayed for about one second at a time. I asked him to slow it down a bit then made pictures for a few hours. Got a good one.”

Progress has been too long in coming. Part 1 of Privileged Mediocrity speaks to that. When the damn of patience finally burst after yet more murders of unarmed Black men and women, Kris Graves documented a fleeting turning point in American history powerfully, and in his own way. He focuses on the evidence to be seen on the land: scenes of murders and monuments that are offensive to many and a real part of the ongoing problems. A number of them are seen feeling the brunt of the resulting frustration and anger.

From Part III- John Lewis High School, Springfield, Virginia

After the protests, we see images of the raw beginnings of whatever it is we are in now. In John Lewis High School, Springfield, Virginia, the sign for the school’s former name, Robert E. Lee High School, has been flipped around under its new name. The question these image leave may be “Where to now?” For me, along with all the horror, they also represent moments of hope. The book is dedicated to his newborn son.

From Part III- Self-Portrait with Stonewall Jackson Shrine, Woodford, Virginia

The American edition of Privileged Mediocrity consists of just 300 copies. My piece on meeting Kris Graves in 2018 here.

I mentioned that both NoteWorthy PhotoBooks have two people in common. In addition to Kris Graves, they both feature the work of the same designer, the ever-creative Caleb Cain Marcus of Luminosity Labs. Mr. Marcus has outdone himself in both books, in my view. With the supreme taste & restraint he displays in Stranger Fruit, and in, what strikes me, as pulling out all the stops in Privileged Mediocrity, as he bends the style to match each section of the book, for which he even designed a font.

Also Recommended-

Chris Killip, Thames & Hudson

In 2018, Chris Killip’s former student, Gregory Halpern, turned me on to Mr. Killip’s work. Unfortunately, the book he most highly recommended, In Flagrante, from 1988, has long been out of print and expensive, so I only caught a glimpse of it when Mr. Halpern gave a tour of his book shelves. I managed to get In Flagrante Two, 2016. which is now also out of print.

New in print is this wonderful retrospective that Mr. Killip (who died in October, 2020) did not live to see published, unfortunately. It’s beautifully done. I particularly appreciate its size and design. It’s almost 12 1/2 by 10, big without being oversized. The design is both tasteful and fresh, with the use of red being a great contrast to the mostly (but not all) black & white images. Looking at his work, Mr. Killip’s Portraits and Landscapes often have qualities I find in Rembrandt, one of the highest compliments I can pay any Artist, which are enhanced by his use of “unconventional” poses only found in life. A model Photography retrospective, it fittingly includes an essay by Mr. Halpern.

Trent Parke, Monument, Stanley/Barker

Being a city boy I have a real weakness for books depicting city life. But, I’ve seen too many that just leave me cold, and no, I’m not going to name which. Few and far between are those that really speak to me. Trent Parke’s Monument is one. Whereas most of the others are a string of Photos “connected” (if at all) by place, Monument is a look at the “alien world” Mr. Parke says he discovered when he moved to Sydney, Australia from a small country town. Mesmerized by the endless procession of workers to and fro day after day, he likened them to the countless moths that he saw at night, and includes, that were drawn by the bright lights of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Drawn to their death. Such is life in far too many places on Earth in 2023.

Entirely in black & white, with its minimal text only in Braille (which you’ll need to know to determine if your’s is a copy of the sold out 1st printing, or the upcoming 2nd printing), it’s a book that captures the fractured light of modern life going by in a blur as human moths go about chasing their own flame of a dream. Apparently, these Photos were taken before the pandemic as no one wears a mask. It’s beautifully designed & produced with Stanley/Barker in an embossed leather cover. Though it’s in black & white, Monument is one of the very few PhotoBooks I can think of that can bear up against Saul Leiter’s Early Color, perhaps the masterpiece of City photography of the books I’ve seen, which is one one of the most essential PhotoBooks of the 21st century in my view.

Jim Goldberg, Coming and Going, Mack Books

Jim Goldberg’s magnum opus (no pun intended) is a unique, visual autobiography, another tour de force of book design, as all of his books are. Coming and Going is autobiographical, though in classic Jim Goldberg style. Though there is no running text narrative, he feels free to write, draw or annotate on the images as he sees fit which helps guide the reader/viewer along. And who’s to argue with his choice? He’s forged a trademark style doing it that doesn’t age or look dated. Containing 360 13 by 11 inch pages, most of the material I have never seen before. There are stories, some featuring familiar characters from his prior books, though they are contained on 2-page spreads, which makes them look more like an Art work than a text. The story of his life moves forward on the power of his images, and that’s as it should be with such a one-of-a-kind Artist. A good number of them depict members of his family with love, understanding and poignancy, as they grow or age, even pass away.

Coming and Going is a LARGE book weighing in at 6 1/2 pounds, I wish it was a hardcover, instead of the stiff boards is covered with, because it’s a book that’s sure to see lots of handling and page-turning. Already at an $85. list, that probably would have added at least $5 to the cost. Then again, his classic Raised by Wolves was a softcover, too. Wolves remains THE classic Jim Goldberg book, but long-time fans will find much to get lost in in Coming and Going. 

Jay DeFeo: Photographic Works, Jay DeFeo Foundation/ DelMonico

I could very well have listed this in NoteWorthy Art Books, 2023, but it’s here to make a point. Jay DeFeo (1929-89) is, perhaps, best known for her Painting, The Rose, 1969, and as a Painter. Though she passed at 60 from cancer in 1990, her star has continued to rise steadily since. Now comes the revelation that she was, also, a Photographic Artist, as this book, and the accompanying show at Paula Cooper Gallery, NYC, shows. Not only that, she was a formidable Photographic Artist.

The “point” I’m trying to make, yet again, is that Jay DeFeo is another on a list that gets longer all the time- a list of Painters who were also accomplished Photographers. To this point, they continue to remain overlooked by the larger Photography community, which continues to baffle me.

The two works shown above in the book as seen in the current show Inventing Objects: Jay DeFeo’s Photographic Work at Paula Cooper Gallery, September 22, 2023.

Right now at MoMA as I write, the great Ed Ruscha is the subject of a blockbuster retrospective, Now/Then. In 2016, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo’s close friend for many years, received one at MoMA, which I wrote about here. Yet, L.A. and San Francisco Artists who came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s have been slow to receive the attention their East Coast counterparts have been enjoying for decades- particularly on the East Coast. Artists like Ed Kienholz quickly come to mind. Very near the top of the list, it’s way past time for the Jay DeFeo East Coast Retrospective.

Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well, Steidl is my last Also Recommended NoteWorthy PhotoBook for 2023. I wrote about it here.

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Strange Fruit,” by Billie Holiday.

Be sure to see the companion list to this one- NoteWorthy Art Books, 2023

My previous NoteWorthy PhotoBook lists-

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2018

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2019. And others

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2020

NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2021

 

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NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 8 years, during which 300 full-length pieces have been published! If you’ve found it worthwhile, PLEASE donate to allow me to continue below. Thank you, Kenn.

You can also support it by buying Art, Art & Photography books, and Music from my collection! Art & Books may be found here. Music here and here.

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited. To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here. Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them. Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.

At The Photography Show, 2019: The PhotoBook Publishers

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

PhotoBooks are a phenomenom.

The twin “holy grails” of American PhotoBooks. Signed first edition copies of Walker Evans’s American Photographs and Robert Frank’s The Americans. I knelt in silent homage for a few moments to center myself before venturing into the rest of the PhotoBook area. Seen at Harper’s Books. Many editions later? Both books are still in print.

As documented by Gerry Badger’s and Martin Parr in their The PhotoBook: A History (three volumes), or Andrew Roth in his The Book of 101 Books, a truly great PhotoBook is akin to a great album (Lp or CD), a great Film, even a great Novel. It took Walker Evans’ American Photographs, 1938, and then Robert Frank’s The Americans (published in France in 1958, the USA in 1959) to realize and reveal to many, particularly to other Photographers,  the infinite possibilities of the PhotoBook at its finest1, to turn it into a medium of expression, an Artform in itself. Echoes of their work reverberated throughout the Publishers and Organizations area of AIPAD.

Since Mr. Frank’s The Americans,  the PhotoBook has seemed to increasingly strike a chord in Photographers, book buyers, lovers of Photography and even the general public, to the point that most big bookstores now have a Photography/PhotoBook section that may even rival their Art section. There are stores that carry nothing but PhotoBooks here and dotted all over the world (I have bought from many of them). In an age when digital media seems to be usurping and replacing everything that’s come before, not one major PhotoBook publisher has abandoned physical books (and only a few also release eBooks)!

I love the smell of freshly printed PhotoBooks in the late afternoon. A view of the popular Publishers and Photo Organizations section of AIPAD, in its new location. Renowned indie TBW Books’ table is closest to my camera.

There’s some debate about whether Photographs are seen better on the walls of galleries and museums or in a PhotoBook. Interestingly, during his conversation at Sean Kelly on April 4th (while AIPAD was going on), Alec Soth referred to there being “book Photographers and wall Photographers.” He then said that he sees himself as a “book Photographer.”

“Book Photographer” Alec Soth’s show I know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating of work from his new book of the same name seen up on the walls of Sean Kelly Galley. simultaneously with AIPAD, about 20 blocks south.

At AIPAD, you could walk through the galleries and then look through some PhotoBooks by many of the same Photographers to decide which you prefer for yourself. (By the way, Part 1 of my AIPAD coverage, focusing on the galleries, may be seen following this part, or here.) I see points on both sides and so I haven’t made up my mind. (Do I have to?) However, I will point out one thing that doesn’t help- as you can see in virtually every piece I’ve done on a Photography show, glare is a continual problem in both museums and galleries. What’s not debatable is that PhotoBooks provide countless Photographers a way to have their work seen- and for most of them, it’s the ONLY way their work will be seen. Getting gallery representation is a dream for many Photographers I’ve spoken to the past 2 years. It reminds me of my days in Music, when most Musicians I knew dreamt of getting a record deal. The few who did wound up in debt from having to pay back all monies spent on their behalf by the record company when their records failed to sell as many copies as they’d also dreamed. Be careful what you wish for might have been the takeaway from that experience. Later, as an independent record producer, I found myself in a position not unlike that of many of the PhotoBook publishers I meet and saw at AIPAD- independents who own and run businesses which require the laying out of sizable sums of money on their part to produce a book, who then work hard to sell it in hopes of breaking even and being able to make their next book. And yes, “breaking even” is the term I heard most often from those involved when the subject turned to the economics of publishing.

The Publishers were moved behind the galleries this year.

The big news this year for this group was their repositioning. Last year, they were in the front of the southern side of Pier 94. This year, they were in the back, directly behind the galleries and in front of a food section and seating. This meant you had to walk through the galleries to get to the book section.  It allowed for more space around each table, which made it easier for visitors to peruse the items on the tables. I asked a good number of the publishers how they felt about the change and the new location and the consensus was mixed.

Aperture’s booth was run by Director of Sales and Marketing Kellie McLaughlin, left, who was on hand for the entire show, while her terrific show, Aperture Photographs, tracing 50 years of Aperture’s print program, was up in their 27th Street gallery, a mecca in NYC Photography.

Straddling the line, in more ways than one, between the galleries, the publishers, as well as Photographers, was the legendary Aperture Foundation, founded in 1952, one of the most important and respected Photography organizations in the world. They provide support to Photographers in all phases of their careers, which extends into their gallery careers. For these reasons, Aperture’s presence at AIPAD is essential, in my view. They were back and their booth was located between the gallery and publisher areas, featuring books, prints and special editions, with their Director of Sales and Marketing, Kellie McLaughlin on hand all five days. If you have any PhotoBooks in your space, the odds are high you have at least one Aperture book among them.

Lesley A. Martin, right, one of the most well-known editors in Photography hosts Aperture’s popular PhotoBook Spotlight.

Meanwhile, Aperture’s Lesley A. Martin, the well known editor and publisher of the PhotoBook Review, hosted the popular PhotoBook Spotlight in the adjoining space.

Light Work packs em in.

Near Aperture was Light Work, from Syracuse, NY, another important Photo organization who boasts a staggering list of the Photographers who have done residences at the non-profit since 1973 that includes Cindy Sherman, Magnum Photo’s Matt Black and Gregory Halpern, Anthony Hernandez, Deana Lawson, Christian Patterson, Lucas Foglia, Carrie Mae Weems, and the “star” of AIPAD, 2019, Dawoud Bey, among hundreds of others.

10×10 PhotoBooks is another non-profit dedicated to fostering engagement with and among the global PhotoBook community. They also publish fine books of their own, including 10×10 Japanese PhotoBooks, which I have my eye on.

While non-profits Aperture and Light Work both featured books and prints, among the businesses, perhaps no presenter attending this year’s AIPAD straddled the line between gallery and publisher more evenly than Only-photography, of Berlin, Germany, run by Roland Angst.

Only-photography’s Roland Angst, to the right of center, in his firm’s booth surrounded by classic Photographs and state of the art books, right.

In the gallery section, where Only-photography was situated, Mr. Angst’s firm showed off a terrific range of first rate, even historic, PhotoBooks, AND a stunning selection of original prints by the likes of Luigi Ghirri(!), and rare, vintage portfolios by Daido Moriyama and Issei Suda, who, sadly, passed away barely a month earlier, on March 7th, 2019, one month short of his 80th birthday.

The real deal. These original, signed prints by Luigi Ghirri which stopped me in my tracks at Only-photography, were among the highlights of the entire show.

Only-photography is the only publisher known to me who have signed & numbered copies of books by Ray K. Metzker, who passed away in 2014, and Mr. Suda still available (Hurry!). At AIPAD, they debuted their newest book, the beautiful America Revisited, by the esteemed Swedish Photographer Gerry Johansson, in a signed & limited edition of 500 copies.

Roland Angst, left, shows Ray K. Metzker Unknown to legendary gallerist, Laurence Miller, Mr. Metzker’s friend, dealer for two decades, and one the leading authorities on the work of Ray K. Metzker.

Mr. Angst also proudly showed off his new Ray K. Metzker Unknown, released in 333 numbered copies containing images selected by Mr. Angst that appeared to be moving briskly. (My recent look at Ray K. Metzker at Howard Greenberg Gallery is here.)

A wall of Only-photography’s exceedingly collectible books includes titles that are already rising in price.

All the other publishers were in the Publishers and Photo Organizations section.

34 publishers or organizations were on hand this year, down slightly from last year, but that was impossible to tell without a head count as the new space around each table made the area, in total, feel very big. The main complaint I heard were from those with tables near the back of this space, feeling that they received less visitors than those closer to the front, though steady traffic headed to the back to the food area right behind.

The back row of the PhotoBook area.

I witnessed the back tables being “less busy” repeatedly over the 5 days I was there. However, MACK Books was positioned near the back row and their space was continually busy. Then again? For my money, MACK’s recent offerings may be pushing the company to #1 in the world right now. (At least among those books that continually, actually, get released in the USA.) Apparently, a good many others agree, and made a point of stopping by their table. They were rewarded with surprises! Shockingly, among the recent releases on display were copies of Per Strada by Guido Guidi and The Castle by Richard Mosse, both sold out and currently commanding 200% markups on the aftermarket. Also tucked in the display were two out of print books by Alec Soth, including a SEALED COPY of the extremely rare Open Manual, the first time I’ve seen a copy in person. (MACK’s asking price? US$2,000.00. Their copy does not include the hollowed out old book),.

Look! It’s an extremely rare copy of Alec Soth’s classic Broken Manual hiding between copies of the also out of print Gathered Leaves, at MACK.

Right next to it were two copies of his wonderful compilation Gathered Leaves, which has been out of print a few years now. MACK super-staffer Morgan Crowcroft-Brown smiled when she replied to my shock saying they were from “MACK’s secret vault,” and smiled, again, when I asked if I could visit it. The two vintage Alec Soth titles were right next to signed copies of Mr. Soth’s brand new MACK release, I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating, all of which had disappeared the very next time I looked.

Chris Pichler, founder and publisher of the renowned Nazraeli Press, one of the leading independent publishers since 1989 was on hand to meet customers and answer enquiries.

Due to the finances involved, most PhotoBooks are printed in very small editions- 1,000 copies of any given book is a lot, and most books printed in editions of that size and larger are left to the bigger publishers, who have the best distribution, to produce. Smaller companies may make 300-500 copies of a book (often less), quickly sell out of it and immediately move on to their next project. You have to be quick if you want to get one of these, and AIPAD is part of a network of book fairs around the world during the year that provide a primary means of keeping up to date with the latest releases. For NYC, the Publishers and Photo Organizations section of AIPAD is the best opportunity all year long in the City to see the largest number of PhotoBook publishers and their wares in one place2

“These guys,” the gent belonging to the arm on the right was saying as I shot this picture of Satoshi, left, and Takashi, of Akio Nagasawa, one of the leading contemporary Japanese Photobook publishers who have a longstanding, close relationship with the legendary Daido Moriyama, among many others.

Many familiar faces from the first two years of the publisher participation in AIAPD returned in 2019, led by big names Germany’s legendary Steidl, D.A.P., and MACK Books, London,  along with Damiani, Nazraeli Press and TBW Books, among the leading independents, renowned Japanese publisher Akio Nagasawa, as well as TIS Books, Yoffy Press, Minor Matters, Kris Graves Projects, Converyor Editions and Japan’s Super Labo. There was so much to see in the Book Dealers, Publishers, and Photography-Related Organizations, I spent about half of my time over my 5 days here, resulting in their own piece in my coverage of AIPAD, 2019.

Keep your eye on TIS Books. Co-Publishers & fine Artists in their own rights, Tim Carpenter, left and Nelson Chan, have gotten off to a most auspicious start, which includes books of their work and Rose Marie Cromwell’s El Libro Supremo De La Suerte, a sensation which made my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks, 2018 list . Both Messers Carpenter & Chan also have wonderful books in the new LOST II, seen below.

Any number of Photographers made appearances, once again, at publisher tables supporting and signing their recent and brand new releases. Along with that, company principles were actually on hand during some or all of the run of the show! These included Michael Mack of MACK Books, Michelle Dunn Marsh founder of Minor Matters, Paul Schiek and Lester Rosso, heads of TBW Books, Monika Condrea, Head of Business Development and Communications of Steidl, Nelson Chan and Tim Carpenter of TIS Books and Kris Graves of Kris Graves Projects, providing a unique opportunity to “talk to the boss,” make a pitch, get firsthand backstories, or give product feedback.

Karine Laval holds a freshly signed copy of her first PhotoBook, Poolscapes, which presents her decade long study of pools in the USA and Europe, revealing their abstract and representational possibilities in a uniquely difused, vibrant palette, and published by no less than Steidl on April 5th.

Among the Photographers I saw signing books in this area were Karine Laval, at Steidl, Marina Font at Minor Matters,  Louie Palu at Joffy Press, Jules Slutsky, Zun Lee, Nelson Chan, Tim Carpenter and Kris Graves signing their books from LOST II and Mikhail Mishin, signing Endless Bridge all at Kris Graves Projects. There were numerous signings at MACK and others at Steidl that I missed.

Carlo Brady of Photo-eye, Santa Fe, NM, who brought a very nice selection of both new and limited edition books, and also hosted book signings. They had a second booth where they showed prints by Reuben Wu.

Barbara Bosworth proudly signs her majestic new PhotoBook The Heavens at Photo-eye on April 6th. I was lucky to pick up a copy of her wonderful Moonlight, for Rosemary, which also features her ethereal skyscapes.

In a space with so many very good books to consider, a few new ones stood out to me. Among the especially NoteWorthy PhotoBooks I saw, the highlight for me was finally getting to see the actual, physical, 20 volumes of Kris Graves Projects LOST II, after having written about it at length while it was in production, the first time I’ve ever written about books I hadn’t actually seen.

THE highlight of the new PhotoBook releases at AIPAD, 2019 was the debut of LOST II, the 20 volume set(!) published by Kris Graves Projects, almost all of it is seen here, along with its spiffy slipcase.

Having called the set “monumental,” I uttered an audible sigh of relief when the actual books impressed me every bit as much as the previews I’d seen. At this point? I strongly feel it’s a landmark set for KGP, and I believe it’s going to be the most highly sought after publication KGP has yet released, one that will be trading for multiples of the $350.00 issue price in no time, given only 60 complete sets are being released. Also, if you are interested in the individual volumes? Fewer than 100 copies of each will be available, and after the five days of AIPAD AND the three days of the LA Art Book Fair the week after? I doubt many remain.

Publisher & Photographer Kris Graves proudly holds a slipcased complete set of the 20 volumes of LOST II. Get a good look at it now because with only 60 sets published? You will rarely see it in the future.

Joffy Press got my attention with two new and recent books by documentary Photographer and Filmmaker Louie Palu, Front Towards Enemy and A Field Guide to Asbestos, two of the most intense and important new books I saw at AIPAD. Both books also stood out for their unique conceptions and production. Mr. Palu was on hand over parts of 2 days to talk about his book and sign copies, and he cordially agreed to answer some questions for me about them. So, I’m thrilled to say that Mr. Palu will be featured in my AIPAD Discovery piece for 2019, along with an AIPAD Focus feature piece on Michelle Dunn Marsh, founder of Minor Matters publishing company, and the woman who curated the All Power: Visual Legacies if the Black Panther Party special exhibition at AIPAD in 2018! Ms. Marsh is a lady who has worn many hats in Photography and PhotoBook publishing over her 20+ year career and is one of those I continually look to for what’s new in Photography. I’ve been wanting to write about her for over a years, so I’m thrilled to be able to bring her to NHNYC readers shortly!

Among other NoteWorthy new releases I saw, TBW Books, Oakland, debuted the new book, Arena, by Jeff Mermelstein, a large book that documents the first 350 events taking place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Steidl previewed the new collaboration by Teju Cole and Fazal Sheikh titled Human Archipelago.

Books were included in some of the gallery spaces, as I touched on in my gallery piece. Danny Lyon signed at Etherton Gallery’s booth and Ryan Vizzions signed his new book, NO SPIRITUAL SURRENDER- A Dedication to the Standing Rock Movement at Monroe Gallery. While Mr. Lyon’s books are well known to PhotoBook lovers, I will mention, again, that Ryan Vizzions’ book is particularly NoteWorthy and one to be sought out while copies are available. In his book, Mr. Vizzions Photos are paired with texts written by 6 women of the Oceti Sakowin, who were the first organizers of the movement, adding a depth that no writer who wasn’t there could achieve.

Once again, the Publishers and Photo Organizations section of AIPAD proved to be a must-see section for all the reasons I’ve touched on. Beyond the extremely varied and essential work the Organizations do, PhotoBooks provide an essential compliment to and extension of the galleries, (some of who are involved in the publication of catalogues and monographs on the Photographers they represent and show), enhancing and adding to the images hanging on their walls. When you add in all the other Photographers who don’t currently have gallery representation that appear in PhotoBooks, they also serve to complete a picture of what’s going on in Modern & Contemporary Photography today.

Therefore, the gallery section and the Publishers and Photo Organizations sections of AIPAD work together in ways that, it seems to me, benefits both of them.

*- Soundtrack for this Post is “Photograph” by Ed Sheehan.

As I did in 2017 and 2018, I’m pleased to present extensive coverage of The Photography Show, 2019, aka AIPAD. This is part 2 of my coverage of the 2019 show. Part 1, which focuses on the galleries, is here. Two to three more parts are coming. Stay tuned!

My thanks to all the Photographers, publishers and galleries who appear in this Post, and to Monika Condrea and Margery Newman for their assistance. 

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  1. Yes, as Messers Badger, Parr and Roth point out there are other Americans as well as Photographers in other countries who have made PhotoBooks of the highest quality and importance. ↩
  2. Printed Matter’s MoMA PS1 NY Art Book Fair is bigger but it is exactly that- it includes Art Books of all kinds, of which PhotoBooks are a relatively small part. ↩

Inside Kris Graves Projects’ Monumental LOST II

Written by Kenn Sava. Photos by Kenn Sava & Kris Graves Projects

Slipcase Cover for the newly announced 20 volume set, LOST II. Click any Photo for full size.

Kris Graves, and his publishing company, Kris Graves Projects (+KGP), shocked many in the Photography and PhotoBook world when he released the ten-volume set, LOST, almost exactly a year ago. The shock at its size quickly turned to admiration once the quality of the individual books it included set in. I was as impressed by the overall vision that unified the project across those 10 books as I was the work of each of the 10 Photographers it included. Alphabetically by city, LOST consisted of-

The covers of the 10 volumes of LOST, 2018

–Beijing by Lois Conner
–Berlin by Andreas Gehrke
–Boston by Michael Cardinali
–Calcutta by Laura McPhee
–Chicago by Owen Conway
–Long Island City by Kris Graves
–New York by Lynn Saville
–Omaha by Zora J Murff
–San Francisco by Luke Abiol
-and Seattle by Joseph P. Traina

Then, there was the daring of a company that’s not yet one of the “big names” in the PhotoBook world (let alone possessing their resources) the set represented. That +KGP marshalled the wherewithal to pull off such a set was equally stunning. LOST made my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of 2018 list, and probably some others, for all of these reasons. As memorable as it was and remains, even it didn’t prepare me for the news that Kris Graves Projects was about to release LOST II- consisting of TWENTY VOLUMES! Shaking my head in wonder, this time I was determined to find out- “HOW do they do it?”

I reached out to some of the Artists involved, and I visited Kris Graves at his Long Island City studio, where I found him hard at work putting the finishing touches on the set that he was about to send off to Spain to be printed, under the watchful eyes of +KGP team member, Pablo Lerma.

LOST II Slipcase cover verso.

As a result, this piece marks the first time I’m writing about books I haven’t physically seen. Even without having books in hand, from everything I have seen thus far, it’s apparent to me that LOST II is going to be nothing short of monumental, in ways beyond its 7 1/2 pound size (for the full set in its heavy duty slipcase). For one thing, it’s already apparent that, it’s different from LOST, and that’s as it should be. After all, LOST already stands on its own- why repeat it?  This time, it seems less about the place, per se, and more directly involved in what it’s like for the people who actually live in it. Tough no place is revisited, the basic premise remains- Each of the, now twenty, Photographers contributes a book of Photographs taken in one city around the world. LOST II will include-

The covers of LOST II. Top row, from left-Washington DC, Birmingham, The Bronx,  Colorado City. Row 2- Crow Country, Hong Kong, Illinois Central, Lagos. Row 3- Lentini, London, Los Angeles, New Zealand. Row 4- Ossining, Philadelphia, Spruce Pine, Syracuse. Row 5- Tijuana, Toronto, Uzhhorod, and Viterbo

A link to a preview of each book is included in the list, below-

–Birmingham by Shawn Theodore
–The Bronx by Kris Graves
–Colorado City by Steven B. Smith
–Crow Country by Wendy Red Star
–Hong Kong by Nelson Chan
–Illinois Central by Tim Carpenter
–Lagos by Isaac Diggs
–Lentini by Andrea Modica
–London by Sergio A. Fernandez
–Los Angeles by Aline Smithson
–New Zealand by Young Sohn
–Ossining by Giovanni Urgelles
–Philadelphia by Saleem Ahmed
–Spruce Pine by Mercedes Jelinek
–Syracuse by Shane Lavalette
–Tijuana by Griselda San Martin
–Toronto by Zun Lee
–Uzhhorod by Jules Slutsky
–Viterbo by Cristina Velasquez
–Washington DC by Jared Soares

Even though LOST II is BIG, I can feel the world getting smaller. I’ll explain. First a quick recap by way of providing some background for those wondering what it’s all about…

Kris Graves, 4 works from A Bleak Reality, 2018, +KGP

Kris Graves and his work were introduced to me when I came across four of his Photographs in the All Power: Legacies of the Black Panther Party Exhibition, memorably curated by Michelle Dunn Marsh at The Photography Show (AIPAD) in April, 2018. The work, a series taken at the locations where young black men were murdered by police (since published in his book, A Bleak Reality,+KGP, 2018), stopped me cold. Enquiring at the show’s info desk I discovered that Mr. Graves was ALSO a publisher AND he had a table in the book section.

Kris Graves holds a set of LOST, with its individual component volumes displayed in front of him, at the Kris Graves Project table at AIPAD, April, 2018.

Walking over, indeed, there he was. After “Hellos,” I saw the newly announced 10 volumes of his then latest project, LOST, displayed in front of him. Perusing them, as accomplished as his Photography is, I was equally shocked to discover the quality of the books he published. I subsequently wrote about the experience here. One year into following both his own work and the books +KGP has produced my respect and admiration has continued to grow. I went to the LOST book release party shortly after AIPAD, where I met some of the Artists included in the series and bought my own set. LOST quickly sold out and is now something of an Urban PhotoBook Legend given how often I hear it referred to.

Kris Graves hard at work while talking (and selecting tasty vinyl from his impressive Lp collection), finishing up LOST II before sending it off to be printed in Spain on February 13, 2019.

Curious about how these bodies of work came about, I asked Kris if they were work that the Artists coincidentally happened to have on hand, or if any created them based on discussions with him for LOST II? He said, “I have interest in cities in general and I am always interested in seeing a new place through a strong artist’s point of view. Many of the chosen artists call a few places home, and they had the freedom to show me any work they felt made a good series. Some artists made new work for the project, which is flattering. Most artists have been working on these series’ for a long time, even decades. All of the artists have had the freedom to create these projects. I help with some sequencing suggestions and layout. These are editioned art pieces.” On LOST II’s roster, he added, “…this list of artists is stellar and I am humbled that they trusted me and the project. I’m still in the heart of it and can’t choose a project over another. I can say that Steven B. Smith’s project Colorado City is going to raise some eyebrows and Andrea Modica’s Lentini and the 8 x 10″ view camera work within makes me with these books could be larger in size. And to keep it ultra-real, I keep the project Purchase College strong with the monographs Ossining by Giovanni Urgelles, Uzhhorod by Jules Slutsky, and Spruce Pine by Mercedes Jelinek. I can’t wait for you to see these, I am excited to even talk about them.”

A lovely, early, +KGP promo image for LOST II, now lost, itself. I think it fell into that sink hole in front of the tree.

When I last spoke to Kris about it this past fall, LOST II consisted of nine books with an open call being held to choose an Artist for slot 10. I asked him how the project grew from 10 to 20 books. “I decided sleep wasn’t important. I wanted to cover more ground and also realized that I had more than ten artists in mind that I wanted to work with immediately. Twenty unique projects means we get to cover more of the world.” That made me wonder about the “secret sauce” he uses to determine exactly who and where is going to be in LOST II. So, I asked him- As the publisher, and creative lead on these projects- Do you start with a “hit list” of places you’d like to include, is it more based on available bodies of work by Artists you’d like to include, or a serendipitous mix of the two? He said, “It is a mix of the two but never evenly. I have some talented colleagues and I simply ask people if they wanted to take part. A few got at me to show me work in the last year, and we’ve worked together to make the projects.”

Cover of Viterbo, by Cristina Velasquez. Viterbo is in Columbia.

This has led to one of the things that made LOST memorable and special- its blend of well known and not as well known Artists seamlessly side by side. It’s a testament to LOST, and Kris, that LOST II is something Artists want to be a part of. I learned that no less than 150 submitted portfolios for that open call for that final slot in LOST II! Cristina Velasquez was chosen (by Hamidah Glasgow, Director of the Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Mr. Graves pointed out to me), and her book, Viterbo, will leave no doubt why. I reached out to Cristina to congratulate her, and ask about its creation. She said, “Viterbo is a town in the mountains of Colombia where my family and I spent most of our childhood. It is also a generous, infinite studio, where I am able to compose freely and make pictures of the things that I care about, the real and the imagined. By referencing this location, my aim is not to indicate the origin of the pictures or to represent the place in any way. This book is a tribute to its people and to the everyday struggles of working-class families that resist and find joy in the midst of informality and precarious forms of labor. It is also a love letter to my childhood days and memories from Viterbo —the streets, the mountains, the stories—. Their imprint will forever infuse my artwork and the way I experience the world with a sense of dignity, absurdity, and joyous colour.”

“In Syracuse, New York, Interstate 81 separates those who live on the right side of town from those who do not,” per Arthur Flowers in TOPIC. Shane Lavelette’s, Syracuse, who’s cover is seen here, looks at the lives effected.

Among those joining Ms. Velasquez, is Shane Lavelette, the Director of the non-profit, Light Work, one of the country’s most respected Photo organizations, and an accomplished Photographer in his own right, who contributes the haunting Syracuse, his first book solely in black & white. I asked Mr. Lavelette how this body of work came to be, and came to be part of LOST II. He said Syracuse “began as an editorial piece for TOPIC (which can be read here). Since then, the spring of 2017, I’ve continued photographing for this body of work, as the issues/conversation around the highway develops. Essentially, the project explores the ways in which decisions of urban planning can connect or divide communities and the voices that are represented or lost in the process. Kris asked me to be a part of LOST II and I was originally exploring another idea for the publication but returned to this work because I think there’s an urgency to this story. I’m working with him to produce some extra copies of the book, which can be distributed for free to the local community. I don’t believe my own view/voice is very important in this work, but the project is one way to try to use an artistic project as an agent for dialogue in various contexts.”

He’s being modest. Syracuse, is stunningly beautiful and poetic, and is sure to impact all who see it. While this is an issue looming large in Syracuse right now, the bigger question it asks is- In how many other places is this same thing going on?

In that sense, it presents what seems to me to be one of the “themes” of LOST II as a set- revealing national, even, global issues in 2019 from a local perspective, consciously or subconsciously, as also witnessed in Crow Country by Wendy Red Star, Birmingham, by Shawn Theodore or Uzhhorod by Jules Slutsky. Perhaps, nowhere else in the set, is this more apparent than in Tijuana by Griselda San Martin.

The cover of Tijuana by Griselda San Martin.

Griselda San Martin is a Spanish Documentary Photographer who’s work in Tijuana seems to encapsulate a number of the series she has been working on, each of which a part of her mission statement- “My goal is to represent the immigration issue in all of its complexity, addressing the social, political and economic factors that motivate individuals to leave their homes. I hope to create images that stimulate dialogue and reflection1.” Her work is often up close and personal, yet, she’s equally adroit at stepping back to show the bigger picture. All of this is beautifully rendered in Tijuana, where her twin gifts with color and light are apparent in every image. The documentary elements, as seen on the cover, are powerful and poignant, but the book contains a variety of styles, some more commonly seen in Fine Art Photography, showing off the range of her talent, while keeping Tijuana fresh.

Griselda San Martin, from Tijuana.

About Tijuana, she said- “Contrary to what we are shown in mainstream media, Tijuana is a fascinating place,” she said. “All we hear right now about Tijuana has something to do with the several migrant caravans and Central American immigrants who have arrived in the city during the past few months. My book has nothing to do with that. All the images were taken before the first caravan arrived. The first time I was in Tijuana was during my graduate studies at the school of journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. My graduation project led me to this border city, where I was captivated by its culture and dynamics, and the complexities (and contradictions) of the border region. For the past six years, I have been going back for different periods of time, working on several projects. Perhaps the most successful one has been The Wall, a photography and video project that documents families separated by their immigration status, who gather at Friendship Park, the only federally established  binational meeting place (currently closed). Through photographs and a short documentary film, the project examines the concept and relevance of a border wall, border security, and the effects of immigration policies on individuals and families affected by them, during a time of rising xenophobic political tensions. I also documented the small but growing Muslim community in the border region.” How did it become part of LOST II? “I met Kris Graves a couple of years ago. We were part of a group exhibition at CPW (Center for Photography at Woodstock). He contacted me directly to invite me to be part of Lost II.”

Along with all of this, many of the books are also equally personal.

The cover of Hong Kong by Nelson Chan perfectly captures the mood of its contents.

Take Hong Kong, where Photographer, TIS Books co-founder/co-publisher, and Aperture Foundation staff member, Nelson Chan, has spent quite a bit of his life. “The book came to be quite naturally,” he said. “I grew up in Hong Kong and live there during various parts of the year while I’m overseas printing books for the Aperture Foundation. A lot of the images were made during these travels. Kris knew I photographed in Hong Kong quite a lot and simply asked me if I wanted to take part in his project. I was emphatic about it from the start. One of the things that I did with this book that was a bit unexpected for me was that I actually combine some black and white negatives from some of the very first photos I ever took. Not just in Hong Kong, but as a young budding photographer. You see, the city was what sparked that interest in putting a camera to my eye.” Joining Nelson is his TIS Books partner, Tim Carpenter, who contributes Illinois Central to LOST II. (By the way, TIS Books also made my NoteWorthy PhotoBooks of 2018 list with El Libro Supremo De La Suerte, by Rose Marie Cromwell.)

Cover of Spruce Pine by Mercedes Jelinek

Then there is Spruce Pine by Mercedes Jelinek, which offers an almost meditative approach, sans people, which, I believe, may be  the only book in the set to do so. It’s her eagerly awaited second book after her sold out debut, the powerful, These Americans, (+KGP, 2018). Though its meditative quiet couldn’t be more different in tone from the raucous These Americans, revealing another side of her range, it retains the depth of feeling, even without human subjects. I asked Mercedes how Spruce Pine came to be, and came to be part of LOST II. “I was a resident artist at Penland School of Craft in Penland NC (right next to Spruce Pine),” she said. “Over the three years I lived there, I would go out and explore the area – going down back roads and side roads until I would reach a dead end. I realized I seemed to gravitate towards photographing quiet scenes – something I don’t usually have where I’m from in NYC. Not necessarily boring or mundane scenes but more of absence- and I was attracted to it in the photos… If that makes sense. Over time it grew into a project. Kris Graves Projects published my first book. When I returned to NY, I showed Kris my Spruce Pine images and he invited me to be part of Lost II.”

Kris Graves hosting the +KGP Book release for Isaac Diggs/Mikhail Mishin Book Release

On February 22nd, +KGP held a book release & signing for their three newest releases- Isaac Diggs’ Middle Distance,  Mikhail Mishin’s Endless Bridge, and Rana Young’s The Rug’s Typography, with the first two Artists in attendance.

Photographer & educator Isaac Diggs introduces his brand new PhotoBook, Middle Distance on February 22nd. He should be smiling- It’s very good. His Photographs of Los Angeles, “conjure the underlying tension I sense in much of the American urban landscape,” he says on the +KGP site.

I took the opportunity to meet Isaac Diggs, the well-known Photographer and educator at NYC’s School of Visual Arts the past 19 years, and speak to him about how his book, Lagos, in LOST II, came about. He told me that he’s made a dozen trips to Nigeria, his wife’s homeland, since the mid-1990s, with the book consisting of work created during the last half dozen trips. The focus throughout is on the daily lives of its subjects through unexpected glimpses into them. It’s a book that reveals a diversity of lives being lived in views at once close up, and again expansive, in a city that few in this country are familiar with.

Mr. Diggs personalizing a copy of Middle Distance.

I also perused Middle Distance, which is as exceedingly well done Photographically as it is well produced, again with images taken over time, this time in California. Thinking about it and Lagos, I see the same eye in both books-it’s an eye that works very quickly and very quietly. In photo after photo images are captured while the subject, who’s often close by, does not even appear to know there’s a camera pointed at them which captures them spontaneously, while the background and the entire composition has a carefully considered feel. Mr. Diggs also has a talent for interesting/unusal fleeting moment. Not the “waited for moment” we see wonderfully in the work of, say, Harry Gruyaert or Alex Webb, Mr. Diggs’ moments feel like they required a fast shutter speed to capture, though it was probably his quick mind.

Sharing the book release with Mr. Diggs was Mikhail Mishin, who told me his new book, Endless Bridge, began by culling through his scrapbooks. Looking through it, I then asked him if Kazimir Malevich was an influence. He smiled, and then responded with this photo-op, which could have been a page right out of his book!

Mikhail Mishin demonstrates the influence of Malevich on his work. The first word in red on the left hand facing page happens to be “Malevich” in Russian.

Though he’s not one of the LOST II Artists, I asked Mikhail what his experience was like having his book published by Kris Graves Projects. “Producing the book with Kris was pretty seamless and pleasant experience and he has an excellent knowledge of, and insight into, the art book industry and in the art world,” he said. “I had my book dummy designed and printed before I was introduced to Kris by our mutual friend. After our initial meeting and discussion Kris was interested in producing this book and we started the process.”

Mikhail Mishin with Endless Bridge, February 22, 2019.

“We had a few sessions after when we discussed edition, choosing the press, paper quality, the cover design and so on. All of that went very smooth as Kris already had pretty good idea where and what to do. Soon after we finalized the files and sent to press in New Hampshire which did a very nice job as you could see in the result.”

While the Isaac Diggs/Mikhail Mishin Book Release was going on, Kris Graves was also checking in on the printing of LOST II happening at that very moment(!) in Spain. February 22, 2019.

Meanwhile, back on the LOST II front, while the book release was going on, Mr. Graves was multi-tasking as ever, checking in on the progress of the printing of LOST II on his phone, which was going on in Spain at that very moment(!) …

As he posted on Instagram shortly thereafter. Seen here are images from Wendy Red Star’s highly anticipated Crow Country hot off the press. Her show, A Scratch on the Earth, is now open at the Newark Museum.

where Kris Graves Projects’ Pablo Lerma was onsite in Barcelona pulling a 16 hour day overseeing the printing of ALL 20 books!

Kris Grave & Eric Hairabedian’s A Queens Affiar, 2010, Kris Graves’ first book, which includes an outline map inside.

Speaking of the bookmaking side, in thinking about the evolution of LOST and LOST II, I was struck when I recently saw a copy of Kris Graves’ first PhotoBook- A Queens Affair, 2010, in which his exterior Photos are wonderfully paired with interiors by Eric Hairabedian. The book has something of the feel of a precursor of LOST, in its unique, capsule, exploration of the borough, right down to the inclusion of an outline map, a staple of LOST & LOST II.

Kris Graves with Eric Hairabedian, February 22, 2019- nine years after they made A Queens Story. His relationships and his network, also, play a part in the success of +KGP and the LOST series.

In the succeeding 9 years, Kris’ publishing has come a long way. I asked him how his bookmaking has changed just between LOST and LOST II. “I produced LOST with a digital offset printer in New Jersey,” he told me. “We loved the quality, and are using those materials for other books. This time, we are working with a press in Barcelona, and making the books in offset, not digital. In addition to the slightly larger size, the books will now be able to be opened further, so book spreads will look a bit better. Since we want to make a better project every time we make a book, we also wanted to splurge on a more expensive process for LOST II. Printing of the books is now complete, the down payment is in (smiles), and the books should set sail from Barca in a week or so, just in time for their AIPAD launch.”

It’s been apparent to me this past year that one of the most remarkable thing about +KGP’s books is their high quality and quite reasonable cost. While a set of the 20 volumes of LOST II is (currently) 350.00, the individual books have a price of 28.00 each. Though his books are affordable, the quality of the work they contain has been noticed at very high levels.  LOST was acquired by The Metropolitan Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among other esteemed institutions. I asked Kris what he was most proud of about its success. “Good question. I am proud that this group of artists works as hard as they do. That’s it. Getting into collections is gravy, maybe it means that someone will peep the series 150 years from now. That would be cool. Usually, I’m too busy to feel pride.”

Luckily, we the living won’t have to wait long to see LOST II. It debuts at The Photography Show, 2019 (AIPAD) in early April, where it will be available to the general public, accompanied by a book signing.

However if you’re a Photographer interested in getting a slot in LOST III? I learned it’s going to require a very special distinction- You have to be female.

BookMarks-

Some facts about LOST II known to me as I write-

First- Less than SIXTY complete sets, in a custom LOST II Slip case, were available when it was announced. I bought one. And no, I didn’t ask for, or get a discount. Why not? Let’s do some math. The complete set of LOST II is being released at $350.00- a quite sizable sum by any standards. Considering there’s 20 books in the set? That makes it $17.50 a book, with a free slipcase. For a first rate PhotoBook? That’s on the low end (if not at the very bottom) of the prices I see charged by ANY publisher in the world. Besides that compelling reason, I believe in supporting Artists doing great and/or important work, so they can make more of it.

Second- Regarding individual book sales, Kris told me there will be just 125 first edition/first printing copies available of each title! When you take a look through the +KGP site, you’ll notice the high percentage of recent titles marked “SOLD OUT,” so part of the reason I’m doing this piece is as a community service for my readers who have read my prior Kris Graves Posts, and/or have bought LOST, so they can get LOST II, if they wish, as well as providing some insights into how a unique series like this comes into being.

Third- LOST II is available for pre-order from Kris Graves Projects online here. In the time it’s taken to prepare this Post, I now believe no more than 30 sets are still available. ALSO! I’m pleased to mention that if you mention “Kenn Sava” when you order a set from +KGP, your order will include a signed copy of Kris Graves’ The Bronx. 

Besides LOST II, also recommended are Isaac Diggs just released book, Middle Distance, and be sure to check out Mikhail Mishin’s fascinating new book, Endless Bridge, both of which were moving quickly at the book release.

Finally, a tip- I saw Mercedes Jelinek’s powerful first PhotoBook, These Americans, at AIPAD last year on the +KGP table I showed earlier. While I was busy looking at something else, the last copy was sold. After spending the last year looking for it, I’m happy to report that I just found out that a few copies are STILL AVAILABLE, here, at the Asheville Art Museum! Mine came signed. Highly recommended.

*- Soundtrack for this Post is “The National Anthem” by Radiohead (a band Kris and I both admire) from Kid A, performed here (with horns!) on Later–

My thanks to Shane Lavalette, Nelson Chan, Isaac Diggs, Mercedes Jelinek, Cristina Velasquez, Mikhail Mishin, Griselda San Martin, the Asheville Art Museum, and Kris Graves. 

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded and ad-free for over 6 years, during which over 250 full length pieces have been published. If you’ve found it worthwhile, you can donate to keep it going & ad-free below. Thank you!

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here.
Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them.
For “short takes” and additional pictures, follow @nighthawk_nyc on Instagram.

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  1. She said, here ↩

PhotoBooks Take The L.E.S.

Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Report card from the future. Snapshots From the first LES Fotobookfair…

Welcome to the L.E.S.!

Outside Foley Gallery, left. Those boxes are not PhotoBooks waiting for eager buyers. They are, in fact, full of Chinese Restaurant menus, soon to wind up on all of our doorsteps. Click any Photo for full size.

Where? 

Manhattan’s Lower East Side has, to some extent, inherited the mantel of creativity that moved…no…was forced from the West Village to the East Village, and then to the LES due to rising rents. Yes, some of it moved to the 718- Brooklyn, The Bronx & Queens, and some to New Jersey, but the LES has been more than holding its own with a thriving gallery scene, The New Museum, the I.C.P. (International Center of Photography) and countless Artist-led initiatives and collaborations. 

At the entrance. Kris Graves, in the Murakami T, enjoys a conversation with a visitor, while his wife discusses a book at the +Kris Graves Projects table on July 21st.

The newest of these is a collaboration between Michael Foley of Foley Gallery and Photographer Kris Graves and his publishing arm, Kris Graves Projects.  Over the weekend of July 21-22 they mounted the first ever L.E.S. Fotobookfair. No less than 10 Publishers were represented displaying a very impressive selection of books. The exhibitors were-

Aint-Bad
Corey Persia
Conveyor Arts
Drittel Books
Gnomic Book
+KGP (Kris Graves Projects)
Puritan Capital
RITA Books
Roman Nvmerals
TBW Books
TIS Books
Zatara Press

And, host Foley Gallery, which presented “The Exhibition Lab Exhibition” installed surrounding the tables wonderfully complementing both the quality and the range of the books on display.

Jennifer Baumann, Hoe Bowl, 2018, part of Foley Gallery’s “The Exhibition Lab Exhibition”

I asked host long time gallerist and faculty member of the School of Visual Arts and the International Center of Photography, Michael Foley, how the idea for the FotoBook Fair came about. He said, “I’ve known Kris for a while now and I know that making photography and publishing photography are two great passions of his. I was impressed with the amount of titles he releases each year and how dedicated he is to getting the work of fellow photographers out there. I love doing events at the gallery…so I suggested we try one here if he felt he could get 10 publishers here. And so he did. He came up with the idea of a “Reading Room” which would give visitors a place to unwind and spend time with the books that they were interested in. Amazingly enough, the Reading Room was silent for the most part with people thumbing through the titles. Each publisher positioned a few of their titles back there, so it really became a library! He also was able to create a lecture series in a very intimate setting. The fair, the reading room and the talks all worked together and supported one another throughout the weekend.”

“The LES Book Fair, provides a more intimate setting, where the financial stakes are a little bit lower for the publishers and visitors can easily meet every one of them and probably look at every book at the fair! You won’t get lost here and you will probably find a few interesting titles to pick up and most importantly, you can take your time looking and looking again.” Organizer Kris Graves added, “(Michael) Foley and I have been thinking of working together on a project like this for a year or so. Michael reached out to me about two months ago and we put it together pretty last minute.”

It didn’t feel that way.

Mr. Graves was a veritable blur while I was there. Such is life when you wear as many hats as he does, with grace and ease. Here, he was Photographer & Artist- represented by his stunning new book “A Bleak Reality,” which opens up to a 20 by 24 inch spread of his series of Photos of eight locations where young black men were murdered by police officers between 2014 and 2016, each one captured on video. Seen so large, their presence is lifelike. Images from “A Bleak Reality” introduced me to Kris’ work at The Photography Show/AIPAD earlier this year.

Kris Graves, A Bleak Reality, 2018.

Wearing his publisher’s hat, +KGP (Kris Graves Projects), he told me that so far this year he has done 18 projects!?! (And I thought my 23 2018 pieces in 24 weeks was crazy, and I’m not making them into actual books!) The volumes that haven’t as yet sold out were gloriously on display. Wearing his co-host hat, he introduced speakers for the lectures and discussions in the reading room. Finally, wearing his book fair “manager” hat, he was regularly checking in with the other exhibitors and speaking to visitors. Given how busy Mr. Graves was, his table was in excellent hands, being co-staffed by his lovely and knowledgeable wife, Sarah. In the midst of all of this, he found time to direct me to the beautiful new book, El Libro Supremo De La Suerte, by Rose Marie Cromwell, at the TIS Books table. 

The first thing that struck me about it, something that became a theme with virtually every book at every table I looked at, was the exceptionally high quality of the production. It didn’t take long to realize that every single person involved in these projects cares deeply about the end product. As I moved throughout the fair, I heard all kinds of discussions about the finer points of bookmaking- here the endpapers are well glued, or not well glued…which countries have the best bookbinders…how different bookmakers pack their books for shipment, and the ins and out of having books made in various parts of the world, including the USA. I was even startled to learn that for those publishers who sell through that huge online retailer, notorious for not packing their books (they often just put them in a box with no padding or protection), keep any books that are returned by the customer for being received damaged!

Call me crazy (sorry, you won’t be first), but for a book junky like me, to hear people who live and breathe this stuff, particularly the Artists who’s books these are, discuss these details was enthralling. And reassuring. This care and attention to detail is one of the pleasures of buying physical books from smaller publishers, in addition, of course, to getting the chance to see work from a wider range of Artists. That passion, and the fruits of their labors, was gloriously on display. And the track was fast.

Photographer & Publisher Jason Koxvold, facing with his arms on the table, and Photographer Shane Rocheleau, right, discuss the finer points of their terrific new books at the Gnomic Book table.

Next to TIS was Gnomic Book who were showing three very impressive new books. Two by Photographer & publisher, Jason Koxvold, and one by Photographer Shane Rocheleau.

Knives by Jason Koxvold. Kinda hard to miss.

At Gnomic, VERY hard to miss with its stunning bright orange cover and eye-stopping title in bold black type, Knives by Jason Koxvold, a Photographer, creative director and an award winning Filmmaker, was one of the two books (along with Kris Graves’ new A Bleak Reality) I went specifically to see. After all, it’s not often a PhotoBook gets its own tote bag (sold separately). As I looked through it, it struck me that Knives is one of those books that contains a world, in this case an insular community that’s grown up around the Schrade knife factory, part of a 150 year old tradition that backboned its Hudson River Valley community, until it moved to China in 2004, within its covers. Knives documents a world that’s been slipping away. In its portraits, subjects look out at the camera (or not) with a look on their face of not knowing what’s happening, but feeling it happening. Nothing needs to be said. It’s all written on their faces.

At the Fair, Mr. Koxvold was debuting a “companion” book to Knives in the form of a hand-made limited edition of 25 titled You were right all along, or, Y.W.R.A, as it’s also known, a book that “can be thought of as connective tissue between several different projects, made at a unique historical intersection in the United States as we bear witness to the decline of capitalism, the rise of almost constant mass shootings, mistrust of the institutions that have held the country together, and the swollen, invisible power of the military industrial complex,” per the publisher, all tied in, like Knives, to the story of Schrade Knives.

YAMOTFABAATA (or You are the Masters of the Fish and the Birds and all the Animals, from the Book of Genesis) by Shane Rocheleau, just published by Gnomic Book, a beautiful creation. I shot it at an angle to show off its nice gold edges, carrying over the gold on the font, and mimicking the gold edges of bibles.

Shane Rocheleau’s YAMOTFABAATA, or You Are The Masters Of The Fish And Birds And All The Animals, was the surprise of the LES Fotobook Fair for yours truly  A gorgeously produced first book 3 years in the making ostensibly “about white masculinity,” (something it shares with “Knives”- both are centered on masculinity, and in both books white masculinity), Mr. Rocheleau’s with a strong autobiographical thread included. (My Q&A with Shane Rocheleau is here.)

My Dad, from YAMOTFABAATA by Shane Rocheleau.

Its a soul searching book, one that looks inward and outward, all the way to the power of nature, for its “answers.” Some of the images were included in the Artist’s A Glorious Victory series, but here, they’re added to a number of others to form one of those rare cohesive groups that takes a PhotoBook to a different level. Mr. Rocheleau, (like Jason Koxvold), is an accomplished Filmmaker, and it’s obvious when looking through YAMOTFABAATA. The work strikes me not so much cinematic, but rather a movie playing in the mind’s eye, as the terrifically sequenced succession of images take a cumulative toll. The air is mournful. There is a sense of loss, or impending loss. Old ways die hard. In the portraits, many subjects have no eyes- well, we can’t see them. They’e looking away, possibly looking inside. Nature is present, reaching into our world at random times to show us who’s the real boss. The result is one of the finest first PhotoBooks I’ve seen so far this year. 

Being one of the Artists on hand at the BookFair, I asked Mr. Rocheleau how the Fair experience was for him. “I really enjoyed hanging out with all the publishers, some of whom are old friends, and answering and asking questions about work.  The visitors were engaged, and it was great meeting new people.  My publisher, Gnomic Book, did quite well and is excited about the next one!  All in all, I had a great experience.” Jason Koxvold added, “We had a great experience at the LES Fotobook Fair – it was wonderful to make new friends and discover new work. Several people have told us that our work can only really be experienced in person, so an intimate book fair is a great place to let readers spend time with the books, and it was also the perfect place to start taking pre-orders for Romke Hoogwaerts’ new book, Vreugdevuur Scheveningen. I’d absolutely do it again.”

Will Glaser of “Aint-Bad” displays some fancy sleight of hand with their stickers while a full range of their books impresses on the table. Curator’s Choice is the bluish-silver book in the front, just to the right of center.

Up from Savannah, GA, “Ain’t-Bad” is a particularly interesting multi-threat organization that both publishes and promotes new photography. After Kris showed me a copy of their new Curator’s Choice, I immediately ordered it. It’s actually issue No. 12 of their Anti-Bad Magazine, this issue with the stated goal “to put the best contemporary Photography directly in front the eyes of the curators.” Fifteen curators in all showing thirty-one Photographers. Aint-Bad’s Will Glaser was on hand to discuss the impressive range of titles they’ve published, which included a fascinating collection of 7 years of Photo based collage work by Anthony Gerace, titled And Another Thing…, and  On The Periphery, by Sinziana Velicescu, a beautiful look at the man made landscape in and around Southern California that struck me as an echo of the early work of the great Lewis Baltz of The New Industrial Parks near Irvine, California, 1974, albeit in color. In addition to being a meditation on what man has done to and with nature in California, it also brings an element of humor which makes it continually fun to look through. Safely back in Savannah, I asked Mr. Glaser how the show went for him and “Aint-Bad.” He said, “As a previous resident of NYC, I was quickly reminded how amazing the Photography community is in New York. Thanks to the Foley Gallery and Kris Graves, the LES Book Fair was (not only) an amazing place to be, but it showed how a well organized and diverse book fair can bring practitioners of a solitary art form together.”

Kerrry Kolenut, Untitled 01-04 (from Rearview Series), 2018, seen as part of Foley Gallery’s “The Exhibition Lab Exhibition”

 Kris Graves’ A Bleak Reality is the newest of those 18 2018 titles by Kris Graves Projects. Its large size and beautiful printing work together to really make the you feel you are right there, in the midst of the spaces it depicts- the places where the 8 black men were murdered by police officers between 2014 and 2016.

Michael Brown, Ferguson, (12:00pm), taken in 2016, 2018, Photo by Kris Graves, Kris Graves Projects

I asked Kris to tell me about this project, in his words, since the text in the book is by Thomas Chatterton Williams. He said, A Bleak Reality was finished over the course of two long weeks in September 2016. It was released online on Vanity Fair’s Hive blog soon after. The New York locations felt dangerous, but I had an assistant so it went well. I am pretty comfortable traveling alone, the other locations weren’t a big deal. I had to remember that these were all normal places, not usually dangerous. I was shocked by how normal all the scenes felt.”

Walter Scott, Charleston 9:30am, 2018, taken in 2016, by Kris Graves. Photo by Kris Graves/Kris Graves Projects.

While all of these places could, literally, be anywhere. This scene really is. It’s downright chilling in its seeming innocence, and so, brought the series to a powerful conclusion in the Hive online piece. This innocent, peaceful, lovely park already hides a deep, dark secret of what happened under that tree. Already, a few years have passed and there’s no sign, or remembrance, of what happened here. My mind went back to Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel, Here (Pantheon Graphic Novels), a book about the history of the corner of one room over hundreds of thousands of years and everything that happened there over the millennia. Having spent the better part of the past year looking at the work of the so-called “New Topographics”, this image, Walter Scott, Charleston 9:30am, suddenly struck me as, both, the ultimate culminating “New Topographic” image, a most horrible possible conclusion to the “movement.” Having seen it, I can’t get it out of my mind. Of it, Thomas Chatterton Williams writes in A Bleak Reality–

“Walter Scott was killed in an empty field in an unremarkable suburb north of Charleston. It is nerve-racking to walk into that field, because it is difficult to tell if it is private or public property. It feels terrible to walk in the same line of fire as Scott did in order to make the photographs. The photo shoot was not a long one.”

Unlike the other locations, the only building is in the distance, behind a fence. It’s as if everything in the scene has been stripped away to a bare stage, where the murder takes place. There’s nothing to distract the viewer from thinking about what happened here. A Bleak Reality is highly recommended, and with only 150 copies printed, I wouldn’t wait long to get one. As I write this, virtually every other book of Kris Graves’ work has sold out.

Making history. Kris Graves signs A Bleak Reality. Mr. Graves is really good about making sure as many of his publications as possible get signed by the Artists. It’s a really nice touch buyers and collectors appreciate.

The LES FotoBook Fair also shows how in touch Mr. Graves is with the larger Photo community Will Glaser spoke of. This manifests itself in the talented roster of Artists Kris Graves Projects has published and in the group of publishers he was able to attract to join him and Michael Foley in presenting such an auspicious event.

“Looking forward to the next one,” was the recurring theme I heard from almost everyone I asked about the show. Me, too.

*-Soundtrack for this Post is “Can I Kick It?” by A Tribe Called Quest.

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded and ad-free for over 6 years, during which over 250 full length pieces have been published. If you’ve found it worthwhile, you can donate to keep it going & ad-free below. Thank you!

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
To send comments, thoughts, feedback or propositions click here.
Click the white box on the upper right for the archives or to search them.
For “short takes” and additional pictures, follow @nighthawk_nyc on Instagram.

Subscribe to be notified of new Posts below. Your information will be used for no other purpose.