Documentary-Collection

This collection of photos is disturbing, wrenching, and (one might hope) politically galvanizing. Here you will find photos of refugees of all ages, from all over the world, from a vast panoply of distinct cultures, languages, religions, etc. The only two things shared by all are their pain, and their humanity.

Right at the very beginning of the book, there are over twenty pages of stark black and white photographs. If you were leafing through these pages, it would be very easy to conclude that there was no text or table of contents, and to give up in despair. Therefore, I am telling you now, there IS a table of contents, and several accompanying essays as well. You can find them, starting around twenty pages into the book.

Judith Kumin is the official representative for the UNHCR, (that's the United Nations High Commission for Refugees -- why not try to locate their website right now? I'll wait...), in Germany. Kumin has contributed a foreword, in which she outlines the overall situation of today's global refugees. She articulates the aim of the book, which is NOT to put the misery of the refugees on display. The photographs are intended to show "the faces of refugees, laughing and crying... their mourning and their pride, their hope and their despair." It is hoped that this approach will help to convey the basic human dignity of these dispossessed people, and engender sympathy for their situation.

Journalist Hans Christophe Buch contributes another introductory essay, which helps set the mood for the book. In a concluding essay, photographer/editor Mark Sealy encourages us to ponder these photographs, and the ways that the people in them so heroically cope with intolerable conditions.

The body of the book presents photos of refugees coming from or seeking asylum in, eleven nations. These nations (or regions) include Rwanda, Chechnya, Liberia, Cuba, Germany, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Poland. Each photo essay is preceded by an introductory chronology, which places the region in historical context.

Many of these images will stay with you for some time. You will see an anonymous Chechnyan man happily playing with his dog, while four enormous, blood-drenched, turreted, expropriated former Soviet tanks brood forebodingly in the background... You will look into the eyes of a little girl from Afghanistan, resting on her cheap army cot. She had stepped on a land mine some time in her past, and is resting in the photo because she has become tired, after practicing walking with her new prosthetic limbs... You will encounter a young African man in a German detention cell, awaiting word from the govermnment on his refugee status. As he peers out of his barred window, a small television set in his cell shows wild horses gamboling about, frisking their manes, and running free...

Several of the most striking photos are not necessarily what you might consider to be particularly artistic. They get their power simply from the impact of seeing acres, and acres, and acres of dirty little tents, spread out across dry, dusty plains, in the most inhospitable parts of the world.

This book is a gripping testament, and deserves to find its way to coffee tables throughout the world. It's nice having a home to store a coffee table in, eh?

Please buy this book, and spend time thinking about its messages.

This is a beautiful book. A photographers must have...

Alison Wright, thank you for making this beautiful book and share your wonderful photographs with us. I can't never get tired of looking at them.
You have photographed them with the eyes of your soul.

This book of photo essays on women and their families is not just lovely but totally absorbing! It caught my eye in a bookstore right away as a perfect Mother's Day present. Highly recommended.

Anyone interested in cutting edge photographic book design should buy this book. Gilles Peress has reinvented the photographic book with this volume. Peress has an amazing composition sense unlike any other photographer working today. This book is a must see and will preserve for all time the horror of the Bosnian War.

This book offers a glimpse into the world of the Amish which has basically remained unchanged. It is a world uncomplicated by todays technological advances. It is a world that I respect and admire. The photographs in this book brought me closer to the amish people and captured the beauty of the people and the land. George Tice is a master of photography.

This is a wonderful book. The pictures of the Nevada landscape, from a very talented photographer who sees light in a magical way, are exceptionally beautiful. Particularly touching are the photographs of the authors' family and other workers at their ranch; one could wish that more of these very personal shots had been included.

The text is a perfect match for the photographs, conveying the flavor of life on the ranch and the exceptionally close family ties that develop when three generations work together with a common purpose. The reader is left hoping that this very exceptional environment and life style can be maintained in the generations to come; however there is a poignant description of the forces working against this outcome.

This Nevada ranch is a unique spot: the book makes an excellent gift for anyone (particularly western fans) who may not have the opportunity to visit the area in person. Highly recommended.

The entire collection of Magnum photo books are both magical, and inexpensive. Perhaps I'm biased, but I found this glimpse into the lives of the stars and starlets of screen, and stage most appealing. I'd highly reccomend any of the titles in tha Magnum library to anyone interested in history, and or photography.

FLATIRON, by Peter Gwillim Kreitler, represents a first for the AIA. This book is the most important compilation of Flatiron Building photographs. And, as the AIA recognizes, the building was a landmark in architectural development. Thus, the AIA chose to devote an entire publication, for the first time, to a building and its photographic record, and not solely to its architect/builder. The reproductions of well-known as well as hard-to-find photos are exceedingly well done, portraying developments in both architecture AND the blossoming field of photography. Reverend Kreitler's personal collection is the basis for this pictorial monograph; he has been collecting for many years and is an accomplished photographer and author. Daniel Burnham's Flatiron is a watershed in American architecture, parallelling and following upon, but not mimicing, the work of Louis Sullivan in Chicago. Siting was key, and influenced the use of materials, as well as the aesthetic in which Burnham worked. The building remains an important landmark in New York City, and deserves a visit by all who appreciate early examples of integration and art in the modern architectural vernacular. If you can't visit in person, the early record of this remarkable structure displayed so artistically in this classic monograph will serve you very well.

Norfolk is a brilliant photographer who has taken very difficult subject matter and made beautiful images. He photographed in places which have seen terrible events, past and present: Vietnam, Auschwitz, Cambodia, Rawanda, to name only the most recognizable. The photographs are true, just. No heartstring pulling here. Only clear vision and humane expression. The essay by Ignatieff matches the level of the photograhps. I thank and applaud the authors.