Field Trip - Special Collections UWM Libraries

UWM Special Collections
Artist Book Collection

by: Kylee Diedrich

Wednesday, March 8, as a class we visited the Special Collections at the UWM Library.  I have visited the area many times before, for work related events and also class events.  I find the Special Collections to be full of great resources and objects to help students learn and explore possibilities in many realms of study. Librarian Max Yela placed numerous photographic artist's books out for us all to view.  Some were unique hand-made artist's books, while many were trade publications.

The books I found most interesting and I engaged with most were the artist-made books that showed the artist's hand in some way.  They were unique and visually appealing, giving a unique views on someone's idea of a book. Nothing is wrong with printed books from a commercial publisher, I just found myself drawn to the special and unique books.

While talking with Max Yela more individually he brought out more artist books for me to look at. He also helped me decide a possible direction for my own artist book for my senior thesis project.  I have been trying to decide a direction to go and visiting the Special Collection and talking with Max I was able to decide on a medium and style.

These artist books were among the ones Max brought out to me that influence my decision to build my own  artist's book.  To create something by hand, and create a physical object that is not reproducible. 

Max also pointed out an artist book (one of many copies) made by one of my professors Nicolas Lampert. I found his style to be interesting and inspired me to think more about how I would incorporate my images in the book as well as binding techniques. 

While viewing the other books, I found page numbering, text, poems, and sound to be interesting approaches to creating a book.  I decided on a style I liked in terms of image, text, and page number placements that can add to what my project is trying to address. This visit made me more excited about my own book making and I look forward to what might transpire in the next half of the semester. 

Death/Destruction - Journalism/Fine Art - Mark Neville

Mark Neville
by Rebeka Schmieder
Mark Neville is a photojournalist located in London. His work is exclusive and changing the dynamics of documentary photography. He explores the social functions of photography by shifting the focus of the elite art audience to the lower class audience. Neville has found comfort with making work for the communities he documents. He creates these beautiful photographs and makes a coffee table photo book to disperse amongst the communities. He is more interested in empowering the subject rather than the director or photographer. 

Neville's work is concentrated on working class communities. His series The Port Glasgow Project  shows the life of a once thriving shipbuilding city and now is an industrial and economic decline. After he documented Glasgow, he put them into a book to disperse throughout the city. In an interview, he stated that this book had mixed reviews amongst the public. 

"The most extreme reaction I had was, all the protestant residence in one particular street got together and had a meeting and took their copies of the book and dumped them in the back of  a catholic pub and set fire to them"  

-Mark Neville 

Betty ( Port Glasgow Town Hall Xmas Party), Mark Neville, 2005

Sports Personality of the Year Award, Mark Neville, 2005

When Neville gives out his books to ten thousand people rather than selling the book in a store, the reactions are more genuine and dramatic. The reason for the outburst from the protestant residence was because they thought the book had too many catholic pubs pictures and not enough protestant pubs. It's reactions like this that make documentary photojournalism work so fragile and complicated. But it can also make the work photojournalist do special because you get reactions that are heartfelt as well. 

He most recently published his book Fancy Pictures which is a collective from all of his past works put into one book for publication. This made him reflect on his work in a new light because of a public production of it all. 

Neville is an inspirational photojournalist who produces masterful photos. I think what is refreshing about his work is that he doesn't do it for the sales. He also is not for the fame of his name. I think as photojournalist we have to have this mentality because this style of photography can impact many people. Taking away our personal feelings and biases and creating work for the viewers is more important. 

http://www.markneville.com