PHOTOGRAPHY ZINES AND BOOKS NO: 49
Looking For a Poem (LFP) by Adriano Sobral
Who?
Adriano Sobral is a Portuguese photographer based in Lisbon. Following his website, Sobral was born in 1975 and Graduated Cum Laude from the Visual Arts department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, The Netherlands.
What?
Looking For a Poem is a collection of film photographs taken over twenty plus years. Intentionally vague in terms of time and location etc; it lends a universality that culminates into a poem at the end of the book about dreams, and the conscious and subconscious.
“Some mornings after waking up
I would discover which gestures were
a trigger of dreams
Some days after walking without end
I would discover a house”
LFP reflects on the nature of being, and purposefully rejects many possible associations, such as what, when and where…
Why?
So it is a series of 46 images followed by a poem that explores the possible meanings behind photographic images with the viewer in mind. It is therefore a book to be viewed by one’s innermost self while never intending to represent anything empirical. Serenity would best sum my experience with it.
Details.
Looking For a Poem, first edition of 100 copies, signed and numbered. Self published, March 2023.
92 pages/ b&w 46 images/ printed on 170g Couché Silk/ 27 x 27cm/ hard cover
Where?
You can order directly from the artist via his website here!
Driftwood 14 | Berlin by Christian Reister
Who?
Christian Reister is a Berlin based photographer working in documentary, street photography, and portraiture. Starting his photo journey in 2001, his current main focus (as shown in the zine) is on Berlin’s nightlife with a suitable dark atmospheric style.
What?
Driftwood 14 is apart of B&W photo zine series focusing on a specific theme (indicated by the subtitle) and is limited to under 60 copies. The current edition is Berlin and is characterized with a blurry grainy style indicative of nightlife. There is mixed in a beautiful preoccupation with faces although not direct that would please any pareidolia. The result is a ghost-like atmosphere that harps back to a previous edition, Driftwood 11 | Ghosts.
Why?
With the next one always in the making….why not? An excellent means to catalog ones’ photographic progression by consolidating and editing it into themes. The whole zine process lends itself to Reister’s placed importance on not just the picture taking aspect but the process of editing, developing and layout for different media such as exhibition installations, photo films, screen prints, live projections, photo books or zines.
Details.
Issue 14: “Berlin”
40 pages, 28 b/w photographs, 15 x 21 cm
digital printing, staple binding
self-published in April 2023
limited numbered edition of 60
Where?
You can order through the photographer’s website here.
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Thanks to our two guests for their submissions, it is a really cool thing to be able to share them all with you. And remember, this is open to everyone. If you would like to have your zines or books featured then all you have to do is mail me. Hopefully there will be plenty more of you who want to get your books and zines out there to the world. Another installment will be coming soon.
Thanks,
JCH
