Vicki Goldberg

An exquisite photographic narrative chronicling a turbulent mother-daughter relationship in the serene setting of a beautiful but decrepit Maine home, Frozen in Time is at once beautiful and heart-wrenching. Sarah C. Butler's luminous photographs tell a poignant story of coming to terms with a difficult mother in a way that is both intimately personal and universally relatable.Drawn to reconnect with her mother after a long estrangement, Butler found that taking photographs of the partially restored Maine farmhouse where the older woman chose to live ultimately gave her the perspective to understand and respect her mother's choices. The images Butler made there are striking and evocative. A pair of little girls' dresses that once belonged to Butler and her sibling, which her mother kept for decades; a corner of the beloved but fading house with its foundation jacked up on a pile of rocks; a partial glimpse of her mother, present yet unknowable-- these and others reveal a complex and compelling psychological narrative. This is a book about family, distance and reconciliation, and, finally, the beauty to be found in acceptance. It is also a stunning visual tour de force that will mesmerize photography aficionados and students of family relations alike.

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) was a pioneering American photojournalist. As staff photographer for the popular Life Magazine, she captured some of the defining moments of the twentieth century, which often took her to troubled spots around the world. She was the first female war correspondent, and covered combat during the Second World War. The first American to be allowed into the Soviet Union, she travelled through the country documenting its rapid industrialisation, and even managed to photograph Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin. Some of Margaret's most celebrated photographs were taken in India and Pakistan in 1947-48, as the two countries marched towards freedom from British colonial rule. She photographed the times and the leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi (who called her his 'torturer') and Muhammed Ali Jinnah. She was eyewitness to the migration of millions and the mayhem of communal violence that accompanied the subcontinent's partition into two independent nations. This body of work forms the focus of this book. Contents: Foreword; Preface; Introduction; India: A Pillar of Fire; Photo Essay.

A leading voice in the field of photography criticism, Vicki Goldberg is well known for her cogent and perceptive writing. Aperture is pleased to release in paperback Light Matters, a selection of this remarkable author’s essays and criticism culled from the past twenty-five years. Goldberg’s take on photography is both insightful and expansive: her subjects range from pop icons to the imagery of death, from the commercial use of journalistic images to the onslaught of sexual content in art photography. She casts new light on the work of the medium’s masters, including Evans, Brassaï, and Arbus, while writing with equal acuity about contemporary trailblazers such as Eleanor Antin and Martin Parr. Dismissing clichés and de!ly negotiating the many diverging paths photography now fol lows, Goldberg demonstrates how to consider not just photographic images themselves, but their impact. Light Matters showcases a writer of great intelligence, wit, and insight, whose understanding of this multifarious and evolving medium is unsurpassed.

Baudelaire, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, and Susan Sontag are among the writers and photographers who discuss the art, creation, function, techniques, and value of photography