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South Africa’s complex relationship with the camera
BOB NEWLAND recommends an outstanding study of how images have shaped narratives of identity, resistance and power in South Africa
RICHARD CLARKE recommends a hugely valuable text for those seeking theoretical analysis and practical action to defend public services
JOHN HAWKINS is moved by an oral history that examines five black families pushed into homelessness in the US
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
In an exhibition of the graphic art of Lorna Miller, MATT KERR takes a lungful of the oxygen of dissent
The Star's critics review The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru, Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other, American Dreamer, When Autumn Falls, and Flow
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
Life Itself: Photography and South Africa
Simon A Clarke, Reaktion, £35
I’M NOT an artist or a photographer, but this book does not simply look at these skills. Rather, it explores the role of the art of photography in the fight against apartheid in South Africa.
As if to help non-experts like me, the book opens with a detailed and beautifully illustrated, easily understood, explanation of the development of the technology of photography in the context of the history of South Africa.
It then poses some challenging questions regarding the use of photography to present a picture of South Africa through colonial eyes.
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While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
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Nick Wright talks to photographer and author JANINA STRUK
JOHN GREEN appreciates the clarity with which a GDR-born photographer observes the ‘post-competitive cannibalism’ of the contemporary US
JOHN GREEN appreciates two photobooks that study the single room of a homeless hostel resident, and a council estate in Exeter
LYNNE WALSH’S choice are photographers prepared to focus on the outcomes of the politics of exclusion