Vile bodies : photography and the crisis of looking
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Vile bodies : photography and the crisis of looking
Prestel in association with Channel Four Television Corp., 1998
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"Published to coincide with a touring exhibition in the UK and North America in 1998-99"--P. [4]
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Published in cooperation with Channel Four Corporation in conjunction with the British television series of the same name, "Vile Bodies" is a collection of photographs and accompanying essays which penetrates the most urgent contemporary taboos concerning the human body and how we perceive it. The reader is confronted with disturbing images of death, disability, obesity, aging and the issue of child sexuality. The more than 20 photographers whose work is represented in this volume are among the most important and influential international artists working today - including Joel-Peter Witkin, John Coplans, Nan Goldin and Andres Serrano. Because of the universality of the taboos and themes, the essays and photographs in "Vile Bodies" have the power to speak to all of us, to provoke our subconscious fears and illuminate those parts of contemporary culture we would rather leave concealed, forcing readers to confront and question their own standards.
One chapter addresses the subjects some fear most: sexuality, violence and the loss of innocence in childhood, as reflected in the uncanny and disturbing images of Wendy Ewald, and in the subtler, but thought-provoking works of Collier Schorr, Sarah Jones and Amy Adler. In another chapter, our criteria for beauty and ugliness is re-examined in photos of the aged body by John Coplans and Melanie Manchot. The bizarre imagery of Joel-Peter Witkin's scenes of suffering and bodily damage is featured in another part of the book, and our preconceptions of death are subverted by seductive, glossy cibachromes by the controversial artist Andres Serrano. Photographers such as Nan Goldin confront us with pictures of friends dying from AIDS-related diseases.
by "Nielsen BookData"