Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99519 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Synopsis
The success of Photobooth demonstrates, the power of historical photographs to speak across time and place and create an emotional connection with contemporary readers. "Forget Me Not" directly explores this relationship between photography and memory, and shows how ordinary people have sought to strengthen the emotional appeal of photographs, primarily by embellishing them - with text, paint, frames, embroidery, fabric, string, hair, flowers, bullets, cigar wrappers, butterfly, wings, etc. - to create strange and often beautiful hybrid objects, small works of art in their own right. The book feature color photographs of 80 such objects, made from the mid-19th to mid-20th century. These beautiful objects bear witness to the age-old struggle to spare photography's subjects from oblivion. Thinking outside the box, Batchen once again combines an innovative curatorial practice with a provocative brand of art-historical writing. -ArtForum, "Best of 2004". ""Forget Me Not" beautifully recalls time travelers intent on touching a void that is not only our own past, but also their future." - "Modern Painters".

In addition to the sheer mystery and beauty of the images it presents, Forget Me Not offers an alternative way to look at the history of photography, a history dominated by the conventions of art history which effectively excludes most photographs - candid views, family snapshots, and the like - taken of since the invention of the camera. The book adopts a different tone - a personal and speculative voice that speaks to the objects rather than about them, and to the readers and not at them, while offering a visual treasure chest of appealing images.

Customer Reviews

Elaborate yet accessible- excellent gift for a loved one
I awaited with anticipation this new book by Batchen. Being a big fan of his previous books I must say I was not at all disappointed. It is a true feast for the eyes, with over 100 colour plates of photos included, it is truly a photography book dedicated to the image. The theme of the book is intriguing; following a collaboration with the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, for which Batchen especially curated the show named,as his book, Forget me Not, it deals with photography as a catalyst for remembrance. Through the investigation of vernacular everyday, 'photo-objects', Batchen offers an alternative approach to the history of photography and illustrates brilliantly that these everyday objects are not to be underestimated but on the contrary have a lot to offer in terms of understanding the emotional relationship constituted between the bearer of the photograph and his/her memory. Through the wide selection of these 'photo-objects' from all around the world, made by ordinary people, including dagguerreotypes (as displayed in their cases), 19th century Victorian photo-jewellery, painted photographs of Indian maharajas , photo-collages and memorials of loved ones with wax flowers accompanying the portrait photo (to name only a few of the works included) Batchen brilliantly demonstrates the use of these unique photo-objects in vernacular everyday life; he also puts forth his argument that the photograph is not in itself that which brings forth the memory of a moment or a person. Rather, it constitutes remembrance through evoking the senses and by being an object it engages viewer in a more tangible, emotional relationship. It is one of Batchen's most accesible books on photography, and it is really great when theorists of his height can come up with something so well researched and yet so easily and enjoyably red. A definite recommendation as a gift for a loved one, a family member. One by which you will surely be remembered.