Pierre de Vallombreuse follows the life of a small community of the Palawan ethnic group, in the south of the Philippines for more then 30 years. Once isolated, The Valley and its inhabitants, whose language he speaks, have seen the outside world invite themselves into their lives creating profound upheavals.\n\nLost Grace – Pierre de Vallombreuse\nRisographic printing\nSoft-Binding – 210 x 297 mm – 36 pages\nLimited Edition of 100 copies\nBook Designer : Thibault Geffroy\nEditions Bessard – 2021

Lost Grace

Capturing the naked body on film has been a convention of photography practically since its inception as a medium. Throughout history (and the present is no exception) it has been mostly the female form viewed through the lens of a camera, but this image changes over time. The bodies differ through the decades, the ideal fluctuating with fashion, but more arresting are the differences in how the body is imagined. Genevieve Field, editor of Nerve: The New Nude, explains:  The old masters of photography largely avoided the sexuality of their subjects by applying the rules of still-life photography to their nudes ... one could surmise that they had little desire to get under their subjects' skin.  In radical opposition, this collection of contemporary nude photography is almost all about exploring individual sexuality. It makes perfect sense that the book is derived from the erotica Web site Nerve; the popularity of the Internet is firmly rooted in sex and imagination, with pornography proliferating and online chat the public forum for fantasy.   The 145 color and black-and-white photographs here are combinations of advertising, art, and pornography: naked bodies splayed on the cracked mud of the desert, pictures that pay homage to Helmut Newton, political statements, and an orgy in Venice. Some images are throwbacks to the past, with printing processes that recall the sepia tones of early photography, while others use special effects from the world of video. If you're at all interested in the contemporary human body and sexuality, you'll be riveted by this collection of images. --J.P. Cohen

Nerve, The New Nude

A woman in a space, all by herself, encountering the ever-shifting boundaries between outside and inside, flesh and soul, present and past-Ornela Vorpsi's photographs trace experiences of interior spaces, as seen from the outside, with a rare sensual precision. At a time when the faux-casualness of snapshot aesthetics has become the hallmark of authenticity, Vorpsi draws on her knowledge of painting and performance art to create intense tableaux-erotic, existential, and pure. Vorpsi uses great skill to lay bare emotional abysses and intensities that few have the courage to face. Lush colors and harsh blacks and whites, the body's physicality and the inquiring mind's restlessness: Vorpsi seamlessly incorporates these apparent contradictions in her work, leading the viewer into a labyrinth of torments and desires. Vorpsi's use of photography and new media is not guided by the will to create yet just another cheap thrill. Her truly new and unique images, firmly grounded in her familiarity with art history, force us to face up to the erotic and spiritual crises of today.

Ornela Vorpsi: Nothing Obvious

150     Self Published   Signed by the Photographer    Small hardbound book with printed covers is limited to 1500 copies new and includes the small booklet of text.

The 20th century : the pictorial history    Published by Hamlyn, 1989    Hardcover in excellent condition

Books By Authors with Surnames starting with: v