2016: The Year of the Shoe!

all images Catherine Balet

Ok, so we all know that 2016 was the Year of the Shoe?

In some ways, the Shoe took over from the twig, the rock, and the reaching hand as photography's favourite trope.  And we all know that literally hundreds of photobooks were made on the subject.

From Spain we had From Sock to Shoe ('Del calcetín para el Zapato' is the original title, a great allegory on the current economic crisis and,  the globalisation of the shoe industry), from Italy we had Le Scarpe Odore (The Shoes Smell), an allegory of self-loathing linked to the decline of the Roman Empire as manifested in the impending financial crash, from the USA we had Left Shoe Right Shoe (an allegory on the ways in which arbitrary labels are imposed on our personal, political and economic worlds realised through a journey across the MidWest that is explored through the semiotics of the American road.

all images Catherine Balet except the one by me

Last but not least, from France we had Catherine Balet's Looking for the Master in Ricardo's Golden Shoes, Which is a re-staging of famous photographers using Ricardo Martinez Paz. The book, says the blurb, '..questions the dematerialisation of the photograph as well as the nature of authorship in the process of re-creation.'

Mmm, maybe, but that tone of voice leaves me reaching for the razors. Can we rephrase it please because I get the feeling the book is a lot more dynamic than that. It's a celebration of photography, of life, and of Golden Shoes.

Viva Ricardo! Viva Catherine. Viva los zapatos de oro!

Buy the book here

Er, why not Truman Capote!

Photobook Bristol: The Man with the Golden Shoes

Ah, Photobook Bristol!

Well, it's photobook luvvie time, but it is over and it really was such a wonderful and open event with great speakers that went from the beautiful photography of Tom Wood, the intensity of Laia Abril, to the soulfulness of Carolyn Drake, the domestic delights of Anna Fox, the invention and wit of Erik Kessels and the charm and insight of Catherine Balet.

 It was a privilege to be able to have a drink, listen to and talk with some of the most innovative,  dynamic, sociable, funny, soulful, considerate, caring and above all, creative people in photography, publishing, teaching and design, as well as see new work and students getting in the photobook mix. And that's what makes it such a unique festival - it's small size and it's openness. It's a feelgood festival despite being in England which isn't really a feelgood kind of place,

Three great books were launched. Peter Mitchell's Some Thing Means Everything to Somebody, Laura El Tantawy's The People, and Mariela Sancari's Moises, more of which before the summer break.

And Ricardo Martinez Paz was there with Catherine Balet (who you will hear much, much more of when her new book is published) and his golden shoes. And that was delightful.  And very, very cool. Cool and open. There's a good combination!

So that's my symbol for the weekend: The Man with the Golden Shoes. Click Click and off we go...

See an album here.