“Precious” is a very good word for the book itself as well. But here, you’d look for a nice, understated frame - maybe something you’d find in a thrift shop, and you’d have something precious on your wall. Obviously, you could do that with many other photobooks as well. You could cut out any of the pages from this book (not that I would encourage that) and hang it on a wall. But looking at this book I’m thinking that he really loves photography and what it does. I have never met Harold Strak and I know nothing about him. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of Akademiefotografie. You couldn’t say this about this book and the work it showcases. But mostly I don’t: photography for the academy is much too concerned with winking at those who are already in the know. It’s usually very good - and, at the same time, very soulless. The vast bulk of that is what I think of as “Akademiefotografie” or “photography for the academy:” it’s made in academic settings (art schools) for academic audiences (peers and teachers, and then curators). Of course, there is a lot of work right now that focuses on photography itself. Instead, it’s entirely concerned with photography itself. It’s not topic based, and ideas of narrative are very far. In a number of ways, Verdigris does not fit neatly into the current world of the photobook. Possibly that’s a rabbit hole that might not be in service of what I’m after here, namely to write about the new book by Harold Strak. “Some American English speakers may find that they know it best from the greenish-blue coating that covers the copper of the Statue of Liberty.” I’m intrigued by the the word “some” in that sentence. “A coating of verdigris forms naturally on copper and copper alloys such as brass and bronze when those metals are exposed to air,” the dictionary tells me. Verdigris is one of the words that is a lot less familiar than what it stands for.
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