Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.
This photobook focuses on the photographer’s parents through a mixture of text and photography, creating an emotional piece of work as Sultan writes about his parents and his time with them, focussing on the mundane conversations that usually link back to his photography. The book itself is a visual memoir that uses a mix of documentary and staged photography to portray his parents American, suburban life.
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Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)
Sultan made the photobook as “the institution of the family was being used as an inspirational symbol by resurgent conservatives. I wanted to puncture this mythology of the family and to show what happens when we are driven by images of success. And I was willing to use my family to prove a point.”
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Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:
The photobook has a hardcover with an image indented and glued onto the hardcover and uses two different types of paper inside; the typical glossy photography paper that’s found in most photobooks and a different type of paper that feels just as thick but isn’t glossy – almost like thicker printer paper. It doesn’t have a dust jacket nor does it use any sorts of unique binding, using normal case binding. However, the title of the book along with the photographers name have been letter pressed into the cover in a muted orange, standing out against the dark green used for the rest of the cover. It also is very blunt and literal, directly stating what the photobook is about ‘pictures from home’.
The images inside are mostly in colour, the few that aren’t being older images of his parents that have been re-photographed for the purpose of being put in the book which helps add to the story that Sultan has created of his parents in modern times, the older images almost acting as a reflection of what they were which is further shown through his use of text to create a narrative.
The book itself is rectangular, wider yet shorter than an A4 sheet of paper, allowing for plenty of room for Sultan’s images to be spaced out in various ways upon each spread with his choice in text alongside their respective images.