Another Country offers a lively, vital rethinking of British documentary photography over the last seven decades. This collection includes a diverse range of photographers working in an exciting array of photographic and artistic modes, encompassing images from iconic reportage to photo-text pieces, from self-portraits to political photo-collages.
As Britain takes an increasingly significant place in the history of documentary photography, award-winning photography writer and critic Gerry Badger brings context and breadth to the conversation. Organized chronologically, each chapter spans a particular period of social and cultural history, focusing on the major photographers, figures, institutions, publications and galleries that shaped the photographic climate of their time, as well as the broader tastes of the era. Chapter-by-chapter picture sections present famous works alongside forgotten masterpieces, interspersed with focused commentaries on selected photographs by both Badger and a range of contributors. This multilayered approach provides a rich understanding of the evolution and sheer variety of British documentary photography.
As the BJP review notes: 'the book’s key theme – and the thread which holds together the work of photographers from Nadav Kander to Nigel Henderson – is the closing of the space between ‘documentary’ and ‘art’ photography. The genres are, Badger says, one in the same – both are simultaneously the fiction and the truth of each photographer.'
A seminar day looking at some of themes explored in the book takes place on 11 June 2022 at the Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol. See: https://www.martinparrfoundation.org/events/another-country/
Another Country: Documentary Photography Since 1945
Gerry Badger, with contributions by Lydia Caston, Ekow Eshun, Clare Grafik, Hana Kaluznick, J. A. Mortram, Rianna Jade Parker, Simon Roberts, Lou Stoppard, Bindi Vora and Val Williams.
Thames & Hudson In collaboration with the Martin Parr Foundation on 19 May 2022
£50
https://thamesandhudson.com/another-country-british-documentary-photography-since-1945-9780500022177
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