AtticusInk » JournalArt

Phil Borges

atticusink — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:03:39 +0000

My wife introduced me to Phil Borges when she brought home the book Enduring Spirit one day after a conversation with Borges’ son, who was studying in Maastricht. The book was written by Isabel Allende to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948, and features 80 of Borges’ signature portraits: crystalline black-and-white photography with the subjects natural skin-tones tinted in.

Borges has been developing his unique style of photography since the 1970’s, when he assembled the book, Tibetan Portraiture, of Tibetans in exile in Nepal, including the Dalai Lama. Since, he has built a unique portfolio of indigenous peoples throughout the world, attempting to capture their innate dignity and worth in the midst of rapid cultural extinctions brought about by corporate and national agendas.

You can see Mr. Borges’ work on his website, and hear him speaking about his work at a TEDTalks gathering on YouTube.

Also published on my Newsvine column.

Steve Mumford

atticusink — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:33:30 +0000

I was going through my Amazon wish list, which is full of books I meant to buy, and I stumbled across a beautiful work by Steve Mumford that I never got around to ordering. Baghdad Journal: An artist in occupied Iraq turns the concept of war photographer on its ear. Mumford acted as a war artist, and kept a journal accompanied by his sketches and paintings during the course of four trips to Iraq between 2003-2004.

Mumford was embedded with US troops, and they where the subject of many paintings and drawings. But he also created a record of Iraqis in their daily life around Iraq, including many Iraqi artists. He sent digital versions of his work along with journal entries to artnet via satellite.

You can read Steve Mumford’s biography at Drawn and Quartered.com. You can also hear a 1995 interview with him at NPR.

Also posted on my Newsvine column.

Yoav Lemmer

atticusink — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:12:05 +0000

In August 2007, NPR featured a story entitled One Year Later, Vestiges of War Fading in Israel, about life on the border between Israel and Palestine one year after the 2006 invasion of Lebanon. Accompanying the story was a photograph so beautiful that, at first, I temporarily forgot the subject matter. An Israeli plane was dropping fire-retardant where Hezbollah rockets had fallen. The contrast between the photographic artistry and the violent confrontation it depicted was profound.

The photographer’s name is Yoav Lemmer, and he seems to work for the Agence France-Press. He photographs life and conflict in and around Israel/Palestine, Sudan and Eritrea, and other parts of the developing world. I did a quick internet search and, although I couldn’t find a biography, his photography is ubiquitous, most often labeled AFP and appearing mostly in French news publications.

One of the most striking photos was Settler’s Block, taken in 2004 and depicting Israeli border police in a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The sheer amount of action, the posture and facial expressions of the people, the upright, armored horses of the border guard, and the overcast, moody-blue haze give the picture all the texture of a painting in the Louvre, a romantic hearkening to Napoleon or ancient Rome, with one difference. The photo shows reality without the filter effect of a fat commission from a wealthy patron, a reality where each side is flawed and has much to lose, and where there is no obvious winner or solution.

Mr. Lemmer’s images, and there are thousands of them, are available at Getty Images.

Also posted on my Newsvine column.