The Passionate Camera: Photography and Bodies of Desire

March 5th, 2010 | Author: admin

The Passionate Camera assembles over fifty artists, scholars and critics to examine the relationship between photography and sexuality. The contributors consider many issues including the importance of reinterpreting historical works by known homosexual photographers, contemporary photography and sexual diversity, and the use and abuse of photographs of sexual subjects in current political campaigns and direct activism. The Passionate Camera features color and black and white illustrations of works by artists such as Ajamu, Catherine Opie, Lyle Ashton Harris, Yasumasa Morimura, John OReilly and Sunil Gupta. For the first time, these works have been gathered together in a fresh and accessible critical context, making The Passionate Camera the preeminent source on queer and sex-radical photography at the end of twentieth century.

Theres some great stuff in this book, especially writing, so its a pity that so much of the art is so studenty, weak, embarrassing. Self-indulgent to the max. Theres a wierd conflict between a more academic, didactic photo/text program, and a more arty thing that leaks out the edges.

Good reads include R Meyer on Mapplethorpe, L Kotz on Nan Goldin, D Joselit on Mark Morrisroe, Thomas Waugh on physique photo, K Brooke on Berenice Abbott, and more. I wish there was more historical work: Florence Henri anyone?? And I wish the guys didnt get so into the sensational “d&a” stuff — its embarrassing, especially when the art is so clunky, clunky, clunky.

12 new from $29.90