Michael Kerstgens 1986

  There are global moments in history that feel like tipping points of major changes when you view them retrospectively. In the case of Michael Kerstgens exceptional new book 1986 (Hartmann Books, 2021), the writing on the wall could not be more clear looking back at the year. I remember 1986. I am old enough […]

Photobooks of the Year 2020/Welcome to the Castle

“Earlier this year, there were some high-profile twitterstorms, in which particular left-identifying figures were ‘called out’ and condemned. What these figures had said was sometimes objectionable; but nevertheless, the way in which they were personally vilified and hounded left a horrible residue: the stench of bad conscience and witch-hunting moralism”         This […]

TOM WOOD: “Men Women” (2013)

 If there is any conclusion to draw from the world of Tom Wood’s Men, it’s that in the last decades of the 20th Century there was little expectation of significant change from one generation to the next.   Tom Wood – Men Women (Steidl 2013) By Peter Baker, for ASX, July 2014 It is only […]

Tom Wood – “What Do Artists Do All Day” (2014)

Profile of acclaimed photographer Tom Wood. Tom has taken photographs almost every day for the past 40 years, mainly around the streets, workplaces and nightspots of Merseyside. Hugely respected in the photography world, his work is a unique record of British working class life and in recent years he has gained increasing recognition. In summer […]