January 2022
Ann Shelton’s mother lode is a finalist in PhotobookNZ 2022, alongside other fantastic photobooks by Aotearoa photographers.
Thank you to Bad News Books for publishing mother lode.
Below is Ann in conversation with PhotobookNZ about photobooks:
My favourite photobook?
Now that’s hard, contenders include The Holy Bible by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, The Milky Way by Vincent Ferrane and Joint Photographic Survey : Ancient Sites in the British Mandate for Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan — these are books I just couldn’t walk past. I have been a photo book collector since the early 1990’s, where I started with books from the likes of Hiromix, Nan Goldin and Araki. More recently I have tried to quell that urge to purchase more books, but these three sneaked under that radar. The Holy Bible is a dead ringer for the bible you find in hotel rooms (still!!) with the addition of strategically placed images from The Archive of Modern Conflict, which are tipped into it, creating commentary and political context through juxtaposition. The Milky Way is another all-time favourite; a wonderful exploration of breast feeding complete with milk projectiles, humility and humour. Lastly The Joint Photographic Survey by Adam Ryder is a work of photographic mocumentary, featuring beautifully crafted “historic” images which move between fact and fiction. I have trouble getting past a spiral binding it seems!
Tell us about a highlight from a past Photobook?
I love the book sale section at the fair, it is awesome to catch up on what everyone is doing, there just isn’t a better way to do that. Reconnecting with people like Haru Sameshima from Rim Books (one of the early contributors to photobook publishing in Aotearoa) and Justine Ellis/Dan Rule from Perimeter Books from Australia. I also love the student tables and seeing the work they are producing. It’s such a critical event for building longevity and momentum for photographers and artists who use photography. It helps draw out a trajectory for our production and for the significant but small vein in which we all work. Photobook Aotearoa provides a framework around which we can connect locally and then internationally with other makers.
