Mikhael Subotzky: Retinal Shift

Retinal Shift is the catalogue for Mikhael Subotzky’s 2012 Standard Bank Young Artist Exhibition, which will tour every major museum in South Africa. Retinal Shift investigates the practice and mechanics of looking – in relation to the history of Grahamstown, the history of photographic devices, and Subotzky’s own history as an artist. The works draw on archival portraits from the last century, found surveillance footage, as well as Subotzky’s own photographs from various series’ that he re-contextualizes. The opening work in the book is a self-portrait that Subotzky made with the assistance of an optometrist. High-resolution images of his left and right retinas sit side by side. Says Subotzky: “I was fascinated by this encounter. At the moment that my retinas, parts of my essential organs of seeing, were photographed, I was blinded by the apparatus that made the images. Mikhael Subotzky was born in 1981 in Cape Town and is currently based in Johannesburg. Subotzky adopts the directness of the social documentary mode while questioning the photographic medium itself. Over the past eight years, his work has focused on the inside and outside of South Africa’s notorious prisons, the small town of Beaufort West, and Ponte City, a single iconic building in Johannesburg.

Review :
Retinal Shift nominated for the 2012 PhotoBook of the Year Award PhotoBook Awards Shortlist Announced! The thirty outstanding photobooks shortlisted for the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards were announced today in The PhotoBook Review 003, Aperture's biannual publication.. In July 2012, Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation joined forces for the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, which celebrate the book's contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. This year, the awards focused on two categories: First PhotoBook and PhotoBook of the Year. -------------------------------------------------- The initial selection was made by Phillip Block, deputy director of programs and director of education at the International Center of Photography; Chris Boot, executive director of Aperture Foundation; Julien Frydman, director of Paris Photo; Lesley A. Martin, publisher at Aperture Foundation; and James Wellford, senior international photo editor at Newsweek magazine. The selected photobooks will be exhibited at Paris Photo at the Grand Palais and at Aperture Gallery in New York and will tour to other venues, to be determined.. A final jury in Paris, including Els Barents, director of the Huis Marseille Museum for Photography; Roxana Marcoci, curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and curator of the Paris Photo 2012 Platform; Edward Robinson, associate curator of Photography at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Thomas Seelig, curator of the Fotomuseum Winterthur, will select the winners for both prizes, which will be revealed at the opening of Paris Photo on November 14, 2012. The winner of First PhotoBook of the year will be awarded $10,000. Aperture Foundation website, Sept 2012. http: //www.aperture.org/2012/09/photobook-awards-shortlist-announced/ Retinal Shift By Mikhael Subotzky "For me, photography has become a way of attempting to make sense of the very strange world that I see around me. I don't ever expect to achieve that understanding, but the fact that I am trying comforts me," says Mikhael Subotzky. Mikhael Subotzky was born in Cape Town in 1981. He became the youngest member of the prestigious Magnum agency aged just 31 and he was recently named winner of the 2012 Standard Bank Young Artist Award. Subotzky was influenced from an early age by his uncle, Gideon Mendel, one of South Africa's notable 'struggle photographers'. Subotzky adopts the directness of the social documentary mode while questioning the photographic medium itself. Retinal Shift (Steidl, ISBN 978-3-86930-539-4, $48) is a first retrospective of Subotzky's work. He investigates the practice and mechanics of looking - in relation to the history of Grahamstown, the history of photographic devices, and Subotzky's own history as an artist. The book fuses his compelling and sometimes brutal photography with essays and archived portraits from the last century to create an intricate and esoteric collection. by Peter Nitsch, www.getaddictedto.com Sept 14, 2012. Retinal Shift By Mikhael Subotzky "For me, photography has become a way of attempting to make sense of the very strange world that I see around me. I don't ever expect to achieve that understanding, but the fact that I am trying comforts me," says Mikhael Subotzky. Mikhael Subotzky was born in Cape Town in 1981. He became the youngest member of the prestigious Magnum agency aged just 31 and he was recently named winner of the 2012 Standard Bank Young Artist Award. Subotzky was influenced from an early age by his uncle, Gideon Mendel, one of South Africa's notable 'struggle photographers'. Subotzky adopts the directness of the social documentary mode while questioning the photographic medium itself. Retinal Shift (Steidl, ISBN 978-3-86930-539-4, $48) is a first retrospective of Subotzky's work. He investigates the practice and mechanics of looking - in relation to the history of Grahamstown, the history of photographic devices, and Subotzky's own history as an artist. The book fuses his compelling and sometimes brutal photography with essays and archived portraits from the last century to create an intricate and esoteric collection. by Peter Nitsch, www.getaddictedto.com Sept 14, 2012.