An adroitly subversive collection of “souvenir snapshots” taken by Bowles in El Aougherout, a small village in North Africa, from the 1940s through the 1960s, centering on various aspects of daily life: the marketplace, the region’s proud male inhabitants, its gorgeous landscapes and architecture, the winding streets and beaches, personal friends and literary peers. The reader may find that a subtle yet vivid internal “hum” develops after perusing the entire sequence of photos in one sitting; an exotic/erotic undertone (the ominous mountains and desert backdrops, the back alleys, those two strapping youths in swimsuits mugging for the camera… ) not unlike that produced by much of Bowles’ fiction. Replete with a detailed introductory essay by Bischoff and a lengthy, informative interview culled from the author’s conversations with Bischoff between 1989 and 1991. Clearly a painstaking labor of love on the part of its editor, this book is a revealing, intimate glimpse into the world of a major writer notorious for his reticence working in a non-verbal medium. MDG

Publisher: DAP
Hardback: 256 pages
Illustrated

The autobiography of Joan of Arc (1412-1431)—soldier, heroine, martyr, saint—culled from the transcripts and testimonies of her condemnation trials. The broadest, most extraordinary aspect of the life of Joan—the peasant girl from the village of Domremy who, guided by Heavenly voices and visions, successfully lead France into battle against the English only to be burned at the stake for heresy at the age of 19—is that it indeed took place. Events that understandably read like myth—all dictated by her courage, her tenderness, her iron will and unwavering devotion to her countrymen and God—are substantiated herein by documentary proof (from her own articulate mouth as well as from those of her merciless inquisitors). Despite the remarkable and tragic events that defined her brief existence, she possessed, from the beginning, an unconquerable faith that never dimmed—even at the moment of her execution: “I pray you, go to the nearest church, and bring me the cross, and hold it up level with my eyes until I am dead. I would have the cross on which God hung be ever before my eyes while life lasts in me. Jesus, Jesus!” MDG

Publisher: DAP
Paperback: 175 pages
Illustrated

Each summer for many years, Sturges has traveled to France’s southern Atlantic coast where a group of nudist families spend their seaside holiday. He has devoted himself to photographing mostly the daughters of these families as they posed for him in the nude by the beach and in other nearby outdoor settings. For his dedication to capturing the ineffable beauty of these pre-, post- and pubescent girls naked and at peace with Nature, Sturges has had his masterful work shown in art galleries, museums and now in this elegant monograph put out by Frankfurt’s Museum für Moderne Kunst. Thanks to a snitch at a photo lab, Sturges has also had his San Francisco studio raided by the FBI and been prosecuted for kiddie porn.
The sexual subtext of these pictures is impossible to ignore, yet Sturges seems to be meeting these graceful, unashamed young people on their own terms. So where does the danger lie? Radiant and self-possessed, the subjects of these photographs clearly present some sort of challenge to our culture and national id. Perhaps the FBI should have raided the Ramseys’ house and confiscated JonBenet’s makeup, pumps and frills, and left Sturges alone. SS/MH

Publisher: DAP
Hardback: 204 pages
Illustrated

The catalog from an exhibition of Wojnarowicz’s visual work held at the State University, Normal, Illinois in 1990. The volume contains interviews and essays by and about the artist, numerous photographs of his work in various media (photography, performance, painting and collage) and excerpts of his prose. If there is one unifying theme to the book it’s Wojnarowicz’s unrelenting conviction, set down in both his words and his work, that the political and the personal are inextricably linked and can only be defined in relation to each other. The fascinating portrait that emerges is of an artist who was capable of directing his central concerns (the status of the outsider, the pariah, the socially stigmatized) with equla force into any medium he chose. An excellent comprehensive overview—both of the artist and the social context from which he emerged. MDG

Publisher: DAP
Paperback: 127 pages
Illustrated

This monograph presents the entire career to date of photographer Joel Peter Witkin, whose views of “perversity and sacrilege, taboo, life and death” are expressed in his notorious depictions of “forbidden hybrids, transformed transsexuals, freaks and fetuses.” Witkin’s intense and perverse energetic images invoke a new spiritual universe in which distinctions are transcended, conflicts and repression abolished and “death coexists with life.” OAA

Publisher: DAP
Hardback: 272 pages
Illustrated

An exploration, via photos and text, into “the lives of the women and men engaged in the broad variety of work that falls under the umbrella of the sex industry.” Compiled over a period of three years (its research culled mainly from New York City) and motivated by a genuine attempt to understand the many facets of the world of sex workers, the volume reads like transgressive anthropology: a study of the stylized practices and rituals that take place outside the circumscribed orbit of “the norm.” Topics range from “A Porn Actor’s Story” to “Blood Sports” (the exchange of blood as the main event for those who believe themselves to be vampires) to “Hidden Costs” to “Occupational Hazards” (the psychological/emotional tolls of the profession as well as its obvious physical risks). With stark, evocative photos from award-winning Village Voice photographer Sylvia Plachy and a compelling, informative text from the paper’s Washington correspondent, James Ridgeway, Red Light is a thorough, nonjudgmental glimpse into a world as textured and elaborate as it is misunderstood. MDG

Publisher: DAP
Hardback: 256 pages
Illustrated