“We can learn with him. He knows how to resist, he’s a good guide across frontiers, he stays calm…. critic as coyote. Listen with him” –– John Berger
Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography and Politics, by David Levis Strauss, was originally published by Aperture in May 2003, received critical acclaim from art critics around the world.
This book will be made available in paperback for the first time in September 2005. The soft cover edition, which features a stunning new cover design, will make this important book even more accessible to students and scholars of photography.
Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography and Politics is comprised of eighteen of David Levi Strauss’s persuasive and poetic writings on photography and photographers, accompanied by numerous black-and-white illustrations. Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist John Berger provides an illuminating introduction.
David Levi Strauss is a writer with a visual and intellectual sensibility that is both acute and encompassing. In Between the Eyes, Strauss’s thinking on photography is provocative, lively, and relevant. He tackles subjects ranging from photography and propaganda to the imagery of dreams; from Sebastião Salgado’s epic socialdocuments to the deeply personal photographic revelations of Francesca Woodman. The issue of photographic legitimacy is addressed in the essay “Photography and Belief;” and in “The Highest Degree of Illusion,” Strauss discusses the media frenzy surrounding the tragic events of September 11. With precision and compassion, Strauss is able to render complex ideas underlining the current debates concerning the relationship between aesthetics and politics so that they are accessible to a broad audience.
David Levi Strauss is a regular contributor to Aperture, Artforum, and the Nation. His essays have appeared in numerous monographs on artists such as Miguel Rio Branco, Francesca Woodman, and Alfredo Jaar. He is currently teaching theory and criticism in the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies and in the Master of Fine Arts Studio program at Bard College. He has also taught and lectured at New York University, Columbia University, San Francisco Art Institute, and Rice University, among other institutions. Strauss’s previous publications include Between Dog and Wolf: Essays On Art & Politics, and The Legacy of Landmines (collaboration with photographer Bobby Neel Adams). He has been awarded a Logan grant, three Artspace grants, and a Visiting Scholar Research Fellowship from the Center for Creative Photography.
John Berger is a novelist, storyteller, poet, screenwriter, and essayist. He is the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including To The Wedding, About Looking, Ways of Seeing and, G., for which he was awarded the Booker Prize. His most recent publications include the novel King: A Street Story (1999) and two books of essays: The Shape of a Pocket (2002) and John Berger: Selected Essays, edited by Geoff Dyer (2001).
Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography and Politics
by David Levis Strauss
Introduction by John Berger
Aparture
September 2005
Black-and-white illustrations
5 ½ X 8 ¼ inches
208 pages
Paperback
ISBN 1-931788-88-X
$17.95