We consider that training in the photobook discipline is an important component of contemporary photography education. Once again we have invited institutions around Australia and New Zealand to nominate a student photobook for this list to showcase the work created during the 2021 academic year.
We are excited that seven photographic courses responded and that we now have an opportunity to present these photobooks in this Antipodean Photobook Blog post.
The authors of the seven books presented here have responded to contemporary issues by embedding their commentary in the narrative storytelling form of the book… ENJOY…!
SEE an essay about the the photobook in education at the end of this post.
The participating colleges and universities:
The STUDENT’s PHOTOBOOKS:
TEVA COSIC – PUNO PUNO, LACAU NOĆ
STUDENT OF the Bachelor of Art (Photo)(Honours) – at RMIT University MELBOURNE
Puno Puno, Lacu Noć (meaning lots and lots, goodnight) extended from a desire to reconnect to my Croatian heritage after the death of my grandmother in 2020. Through praxis it seeks to complicate a reductive view of nostalgia and follows the assertion that longing for the past can be orientated towards both change and transformation in positive and productive ways.
Working with the photobook form, the project broadly explores how personal and collective narratives of migration, identity and belonging are entangled and embedded within nostalgia. The work speculates on where culture lies as it attempts to both locate a sense of connection whilst also reconciling feelings of my own displacement through the creative act. The photographic encounters, archival sources and other visual investigations that make up the project become points on a map that constellate my own narratives with those of the broader Croatian community.
This project has been self-published in partial fulfilment of my honours degree, I hope to continue to expand and refine the content and design of the book for possible future publication.
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: 17.6 x 25 cm, section sewn with exposed spine and dust jacket
NUMBER OF PAGES: 204 pages
EDITION: 5
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: Digital offset
PRICE: Available on request
CONTACT: TEVA
Instagram: @tevac
Website: www.tevacosic.com
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STUDY PHOTOGRAPHY AT RMIT: HERE
Nominated by Dr Ray Cook – Lecturer in Photography
At RMIT our photo honours program is premised on the notion that photography constitutes a way of thinking and knowing. It communicates according to its own disciplinary qualities and evolving conventions. It is especially suited for photo books and our students increasingly exploit the form.
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ZIGGY BOND – THAT PLACE IS GONE NOW
Bachelor OF FINE ART (SPECIALISING IN Photography & MEDIA ARTS/Photo Media) Program – Whitecliffe, AUCKLAND NZ.
ABSTRACT: Ziggy presented a poetic meditation on the house in which he spent the early years of his childhood. Ziggy’s practice has developed around his interests in analogue photographic processes and his black and white images in the book navigate memory, place and landscape.
Here’s what Ziggy says about the book:
There is a house that sits at the southeast foot of Maungawhau. My family and I lived in this house until I was eight. It had previously been lived in by my great grandmother and then my great uncle.
Shortly after we left this place my parents separated. Due to this, I often looked back on my time there as the time my life was whole. The house came to represent a safe space that I could no longer access. Across the road from this house is a path that takes you to the summit of the mountain. My family and I walked this path almost every day when we lived there.
This journey now reveals a longing for something that is no longer. Since leaving, I have returned to Maungawhau many times. Whenever I return, I feel the presence of my old home and the weight that it holds.
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
DESIGN: Ziggy Bond
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: 18.5 x 23.5 cm with occasional fold-out pages
NUMBER OF PAGES: 68 pages
EDITION: 25
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: Digital press by Centurion Print, Auckland, New Zealand
PRICE: NZ$ 50
CONTACT: ZIGGY
One of the big things that the Photo Media dept have addressed in recent years is the growing importance of the photobook in the international photography scene. In 2016 we specifically reoriented our teaching to include a semester long project that allows our third-year students to develop a substantial project of their own choosing and to resolve and publish it as a photobook.
Whitecliffe Photo Media students have featured as finalists in the AUS NZ Photobook of the Year awards that ran as part of Photobook NZ
STUDY PHOTOGRAPHY AT WHITECLIFFE: HERE
Nominated by David Cowlard – Program Leader, Photo Media
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LILY DOWD – YESTERDAY HOME
FROM THE Bachelor of Design (Photography MAJOR) – MASSEY UNIVERSITY, WELLINGTON NZ.
‘Yesterday Home’ is a poetic connection with small things that evoke a sense of remembered place. The material experience of the book is marked by a rhythmic intervention of translucent lumen images, an exposed spine and images that seem to float on the page.
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
DESIGN & EDITING: Lily Dowd
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: 19 x 22.8 cm, case-bound with hard linen cover, section sewn with exposed spine
SPECIAL FEATURES: A unique state lumen print is indented in each cover
NUMBER OF PAGES: 80 pages
EDITION: First edition 3
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: Digital press by Wakefields Digital, Wellington, New Zealand
PRICE: n/a
CONTACT LILY:
Massey University continues to be a key partner in staging four international Photobook NZ festivals in Wellington. Photobooks are a key part of our culture – we have an extensive collection of photobooks in our library and specialised workshop spaces for making books and zines. All students go on the journey of making photobooks, as they provide formats for grappling with long-form narrative and developing your own voice as an author.
STUDY PHOTOGRAPHY @ MASSEY: LINK
Nominated by David Cook – Senior lecturer, Whiti o Rehua School of Art and Ngā Pae Māhutonga – The School of Design, Massey University
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ASHLEY KELAM – SKEW-WHIFF
FROM THE Photojournalism/Documentary major IN THE BACHELOR OF PHOtography – PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIES COLLEGE, MELBOURNE.
ABSTRACT: This book is an exemplary example of how students could take advantage of the Melbourne lockdown. Although restricted in terms of travel distance, more time was granted to produce work. In addition to that, the images are both sophisticated and funny.
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
DESIGN & EDITING: Ashley Kelam
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: 25.5 x 21.5 cm, hard linen cover, section sewn
SPECIAL FEATURES: Debossed/foil stamped front and back covers
NUMBER OF PAGES: 180 pages
EDITION: 2
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: HP Indigo Digital Press at E-Plot and bound by ORT Bindery
PRICE: n/a
CONTACT ASHLEY
ashkelam@gmail.com
https://www.ashleykelam.com/
In second year at Photography Studies College the students produce both a traditional folio of prints and a handmade photobook where they learn about sequencing and construction. This sets them up with the skills to make a publication as part of their graduate outcomes. With the increasing interest in publications, this is a powerful tool for students to showcase their work in an easily accessible and sophisticated way to clients, the art industry and through awards.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PSC COURSES: HERE
Nominated by Dr Kristian Häggblom – Educator: Higher Education Course Director & MA Photography Course Convener, Photography Studies College, Melbourne
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LAURA KING – DREAM STATE
A Photomedia student – SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, Melbourne
ABSTRACT: Laura King’s final year photo book Dream state allows the viewer a joyous, magical experience of being immersed in a picturesque natural world.
Created during Melbourne lockdown, King sought out areas of natural beauty that promoted a deep sense of calm during a time of heightened anxiety. With heavy nods to Pictorialism, King’s book seeks to engage Gen Z in the healing and calming warmth of perfect spring days
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
DESIGN: Laura King
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: 28 x 21cm, soft cover, perfect bound
SPECIAL FEATURES: Four pages printed on translucent/tracing paper
NUMBER OF PAGES: 60 pages
EDITION: 1
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: Little Print, Melbourne
PRICE: n/a
CONTACT LAURA:
lauraking@gmail.com
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Photomedia blends the two disciplines of Photography and Design allowing our students complete freedom as storytellers. The photobook represents this fusion of design, photography, narrative and storytelling.
STUDY PHOTOGRAPHY AT SWINBURNE: HERE
Nominated by Dr Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek – Senior Lecturer in Communication Design and Morganna Magee – Lecturer in Photography
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RUBY KAWITI – WHEN WARS WILL BE NO MORE
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Photography – Ilam School of Fine Arts, Canterbury UNIVERSITY, Christchurch NZ
ABSTRACT from the Nominator: There’s a spread in Ruby Kawiti’s book that reads:
“Looking down at the holes in the ground… wondering where they all connect, if they still do…”
This sits amongst redacted text within what appears to be a hastily written field-note. Through a mass of scribbles, I can just make out the words, “…trench warfare.” I ponder the significance, not only of the clearly legible words but also what and why Ruby has chosen to self-censor.
Ruby Kawiti is the direct descendent of the great Ngāpuhi rangatira (chief), Te Ruki Kawiti. The ‘holes in the ground’ she ponders are the remains of defensive structures he and his people built in Waiomio, Ruapekapeka to fend off British advances during the final stages of the Northern Wars. A figure of great standing, as a rangatira he carries a contradictory reputation both as peacemaker and brutal warrior. For Ruby, many generations removed, he is a source of great pride – a pillar of strength and conviction – but also a level of internalised anxiety. In this book, we are party to her grappling to reconcile this dichotomy of legacy and what it means to her, now, as contemporary wahine.
I’ve nominated this book because Ruby handles this task with great skill, restraint and above all honesty. The reader is brought into her experience and worldview, forced to confront many uncomfortable truths about everyday realities for contemporary Māori. This is not simply about expressing the burden or weight of racial and cultural injustice or prejudice, or even familial expectation or responsibility, rather mostly her hope to find a position from which she – and by extension others – may feel empowered and connected. Ruby finds this in her extended whanau; when standing on the whenua of her ancestors, and even when closely observing her father tie a delicate knot in his well-used fishing line. Via lyrical combination of image and text, I’m led to ponder what it means to live in Aotearoa New Zealand, my responsibilities as tangata te tiriti and, above all, the importance of truly listening when people have the courage to speak.
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
DESIGN & EDITING: Ruby Kawiti
OTHER CREATIVE COLLABORATORS: Kirsty Price, Jack Kawiti, Whaea Biam and Morehu Carrington
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: 28 x 21cm, soft cover, perfect bound
SPECIAL FEATURES: Four pages printed on translucent/tracing paper
NUMBER OF PAGES: 126 pages
EDITION: 1
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: HP Indigo Press by Printer’s Inc, Otautahi, Christchurch, NZ
PRICE: n/a
CONTACT: RUBY
rka56@uclive.ac.nz
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The Ilam School of Fine Arts photography program emphasises the photobook as a vital means of distributable output, as well as significant vessel for artistic expression within contemporary photographic practice. In an increasingly fast-paced digital world, the book form emphasises a tactile, intimate and durational experience, the antidote to ‘endless scroll’.
Each undergraduate course within the photography program at Ilam incorporates an aspect of photobook conceptualisation, design and production, encouraging students to think intelligently about ways their work may engage audiences’ and hold currency within extended fields of practice.
FOR INFORMATION ON ILAM SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS PROGRAMS: HERE
Nominated by Tim J. Veling – Senior Lecturer in Photography
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LIAM JOHNSTON – A VIEW FROM HALFWAY
Student in the Bachelor of Photography, Photo Art Practices course MAJOR – Queensland College of Art, Griffith UNIVERSITY, Brisbane.
ABSTRACT: This book focuses on reflection, communication and making sense of the normality of life in an intimate, documentative, diaristic format. Making vernacular snapshot aesthetic photographs of the everyday and meticulously framing things to appear without location, the artist intends to invite you into a personal, non-linear, narrative and encourages audience self-reflection through a combination of scriptive and visual text. This project plays a big part in mental health and development of adolescents, growing up and becoming.
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BOOK DETAILS: Self-Published
DESIGN & EDITING: Liam Johnston
OTHER CREATIVE COLLABORATORS: Martin Smith and Louis Lim
THE PHYSICAL BOOK: Hard cover, section sewn with an open spine
SPECIAL FEATURES: Laser cut typography on front cover and two internal window-cut pages
NUMBER OF PAGES: 88 pages
EDITION: 25 handmade copies
PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: Digital Press printing by Louis Lim at LiveImage Lab @ QCA. Binding by the author
PRICE: Sold out
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CONTACT: LIAM
Liam.919@hotmail.com
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Photobooks are a utilised resource in the University Library, available for all students’ research with a great selection. Students are encouraged to explore not only photobooks, but to undertake their own projects that respond to image relationships with sequencing and pairing relating to space, time and size, as part of their MSP (Major studio project.)
FOR INFORMATION QCA PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAMS: HERE
Nominated by Dr Martin Smith – Lecturer, Queensland College of Art
OBSERVATIONS: THE ROLE OF THE PHOTOBOOK IN ACADEMIA
In the contemporary world anyone is, or can be, a photographer. Digital technology has disrupted the film and the darkroom and the need for trained technicians to wrangle out of chemical technologies a high quality result. The camera has also been subjected to digital transformation that has turned every photograph made and printed into a masterly Zone System perfect result.
Now that anyone can master the technology where does this leave photographic education? While I must concede that digital technology demands that training must be undertaken to master the range of expected outcomes required for commerce, family and art. The true purpose of contemporary photographic education must be centered on the development of visually aware people capable of creating highly successful communication in the form of still images, sequences and video.
Today’s academically trained photographer will transcend the milieu of ‘photomakers’ by their ability to tell stories in their photographs through representing what is before them through unique, innovative and conceptually profound viewpoints.
For the teacher the challenge will not be about mastering technology but rather these aesthetic capabilities. The answer as to how the mind, eye and the image can be honed and developed could be found within the idea of the photobook. Rising from obscurity 20 years ago the photobook has become a behemoth in the world of both trade and personal publishing.
The making of a photobook requires the development of a concept, planning and coordinating the creation of images, photo editing – not only digitally but also the sequence of images that are being considered. The bookmaker will need to articulate their ideas and perhaps write components of the book or collaborate with others chosen for that task. Ancillary knowledge and skill in areas of typography and book design, capabilities for collaboration, understanding the prepress, binding industries and time management will also be required.
The photobook then becomes a holistic or capstone assessment task for any photographic training institution. And through this process the student will not only be able to provide evidence of skills and knowledge and but also their achievement in creating and presenting a significant body of work.
May many other institutions offering photography studies consider embebding photobooks in their training and assessment strategies.
.Dr Doug Spowart
BIOG: Doug Spowart has for over 50 years collected photographically illustrated books and in 2012 completed a PhD on the topic of self-publishing in the digital age. He has extensively researched, judged and commentated on the photobook in Australia and New Zealand including a presentation at the 2017 Vienna Photo Book Festival.
As publisher and content producer for the Antipodean Photobook Blog he promotes internationally activities, events and publications emerging from our local region.
Spowart curated a collection of Australian and New Zealand photobooks to extend the Martin Parr collection of Antipodean photobooks in Tate Britain. In 2019 he coordinated World Photobook Day events at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.
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Please let us know what you think about this post …
Feedback is always appreciated …!
UNTIL NEXT YEAR ……
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Photobooks in Australia + New Zealand 