My 5 favourite books of 2015 - Jon Nicholls

What follows is a very personal reflection on the books about art and photography that have really influenced my thinking and practice this year. These are the books I read (or re-read) in 2015 rather than just those that were published this year. They are in no particular order.

A Handful of Dust by David Campany

This is the catalogue for an exhibition I travelled to Paris to see only to be thwarted by an international terrorist incident. Given the nature of Campany's argument, that images of dust in all its forms pervade much of modern art (and can be traced back to Man Ray's photograph of Duchamp's Large Glass) this seems an appropriate connection to have made with the book as the dust settled on Paris back in November. I am fascinated by the photographers of the 1920s and 30s, especially those associated with the Surrealists. Campany's book traces the ripples of Man Ray's photograph in the 20th century art pond.

I have used Man Ray's image countless times with my A level photography students and I've created a variety of resources and provocations related to the ways in which we are still absorbed by the investigations and experiments initiated by Surrealism nearly 100 years ago. I'm really sorry that I was prevented from seeing the exhibition that accompanied the publication of this great book. However, it is beautifully illustrated throughout and contains a fantastic essay exploring the nature of photographs and their relationship to the times in which they are made.

Related:
A virtual flip through of the book
A discussion with David Campany about the book

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What is a photograph? by Squiers, Batchen, Baker & Steyerl

As digital technology becomes the dominant form in which we make and consume photographic images a number of photographers (and curators) are exploring the materiality of the medium and its roots in the relationships between light and a physical surface. This catalogue of an exhibition at the ICP collects together several examples and articulates in the accompanying texts some of the tensions and opportunities of this crossroads moment in the history of the medium.

The book is large format and generously illustrated. Many of the artists included would be considered art photographers, exploring conceptual issues, but there is a strong sense of continuity with photography pioneers of the past. I've referenced some of the artists included in a recent scheme of work which explores the relationship between photography and surfaces. Who knows how long film and light sensitive papers will be around? Until such time as these technologies cease to exist, this crop of artists seem determined to wring the last drop of creative potential from a dwindling resource. Our students are fascinated by the darkroom, by film and old cameras. The department in which I work is also committed to analogue photography (for want of a better phrase) and both Freecycle and eBay (plus donations from neighbouring schools and colleges who are closing down their darkrooms and getting rid of equipment) have proved to be rich sources of cheap materials. I don't know how long we'll be able to continue to work in this way but this book is a useful reminder that many contemporary artists are still excited by the affordances of traditional materials and techniques whilst also questioning their relevance and meaning in the 21st century.

Related:
​An introduction to the exhibition at the ICP

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How to See the World by Nicholas Mirzoeff 

This is the book I read during the ill-fated trip to Paris in November. It's a new version of the old Pelican books and, like them, attempts to outline a complex topic for the general reader. Nicholas Mirzoeff begins his exploration of visual culture with a reference to the blue marble, the famous image of the earth created by the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. This most reproduced photograph of all time (arguably) is contrasted with the selfie taken by astronaut Akihiko Hoshide during his 2012 spacewalk in which the earth is seen reflected in his visor. Like John Berger's Ways of Seeing TV series and book, Mirzoeff challenges our view of reality with a series of startling insights. 

To say we live in a culture that visualises is an understatement. One trillion photographs were taken in 2014. 700 million Snapchat photos are exchanged every single day. Every minute no less than three hundred hours of YouTube video are uploaded.

I'm determined to build into my teaching this year some of the many insights, questions and provocations about our relationships with photographic images raised by this book. Who knows, it may turn out to be as significant in our thinking about visual culture as John Berger's was all those years ago.

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Understanding a Photograph by John Berger

Whilst we're on the subject of John Berger, the publication of this collection of his essays about photography provided me with a great deal of pleasure this year. It's a book I have returned to frequently, especially his essay about the suits worn by the subjects in August Sander's 1914 portrait of three farmers.​ Berger's writing is a brilliant mixture of the political, the personal and the theoretical. The intensity of his gaze and the range of cultural references he brings to bear on photographs makes reading the essays in this book pretty essential for anyone with an interest in photography.

Related:
An introduction to the book from Geoff Dyer, the editor.

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Photography and the Art of Chance
by Robin Kelsey

This is the book I was most excited about reading this year. I'm particularly interested in the relationship between photography and chance. It's something I refer to a lot in my teaching and encourage students to think about. It forms one of the Threshold Concepts I've helped to develop with Chris Francis:

#7: Chance plays a very significant role in photography. You can fight chance, tolerate it or embrace it. To some extent, all photographs are the result of chance processes. 

I'm also interested in teaching photography as both an art form in its own right (with its own particular set of affordances, constraints, techniques and processes) and as a form of contemporary art practice. In this respect, I am fascinated by the conceptual artists of the 1970s as much as I am by the early modernist pioneers of photography in the 20s and 30s. Robin Kelsey's brilliant book explores the different ways in which we can understand the role that chance plays for a number of photographers and artists, the main protagonists being William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, Frederick Sommer and John Baldessari. It's a brilliantly researched and illuminating journey that puts paid to the tiresome argument that photography teachers should concentrate on developing their craft and not be troubled by art. As Kelsey explains, art and photography have always been in dialogue:

What binds the figures featured in the book is their self-conscious grappling with the relationship of photography to art. For each of them, this grappling required addressing the troublesome role of chance in photography, and each addressed this role in terms responsive to his or her day and circumstances. When Cameron practiced, Victorians were very concerned that modern markets were making investment akin to gambling, and she treated photography as a kind of aesthetic speculation. Stieglitz was more interested in the spontaneous accidental forms of vapors and clouds and scenes on the urban street.

Related:
On Chance and Photography, a conversation between Robin Kelsey and Samuel Ewing.

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So, what are your favourite reads of 2015? Which books have inspired you to invent new projects or re-invigorated your own photography practice? Let us know in the comments below or, alternatively, why not write your own guest blog post? Get in touch!