“I don’t have two lives,” Annie Leibovitz writes in the Introduction to this collection of her work from 1990 to 2005. “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” Portraits of well-known figures–Johnny Cash, Nicole Kidman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Keith Richards, Michael Jordan, Joan Didion, R2-D2, Patti Smith, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson, and William Burroughs–appear alongside pictures of Leibovitz’s family and friends, reportage from the siege of Sarajevo in the early Nineties, and landscapes. The pictures form a narrative of a life rich in contrasts and continuities. The photographer has a long relationship that ends with illness and death. She chronicles the celebrations and heartbreaks of her large and robust family. She has children of her own. All the while, she is working, and the public work resonates with the themes of the life.

Originally an exhibition at Presentation House Gallery in North Vancouver during September and October of 2001, Facing History—Portraits from Vancouver is a book about a cityís inhabitants. Contemporary and archival photographs and art, made over the last 50 years by 55 image-makers, address the themes of family and the construction of identity; questions of attribution; the street; work and play; public life; art and life; the body and the life of the mind. Curated by Karen Love.

Artists in the publication:
Alvin Armstrong, Glenn Baglo, Doug Ball, Marian Penner Bancroft, Percy Bentley/Dominion Photo Company, Natalie Brettschneider, David Buchan, Allyson Clay, Corrine Corry, Kate Craig, Bill Cunningham, Max Dean, Fred Douglas, Diane Evans, Jochen Gerz & Esther Shalev-Gerz, John Helcermanas, Lee Holt, Art Jones/Artray, Brian Kent, Robert Keziere, Roy Kiyooka, Una Knox, Mike Love, Elizabeth MacKenzie, Arnaud Maggs, Kyla Mallett, John McGinnis, Al McWilliams, Robert Minden, Al Neil, N.E. Thing Co Ltd., Wendy Oberlander, Ann Park, Jerry Pethick, Colin Price, Foncie Pulice, Judy Radul, Chick Rice, Henri Robideau, Carol Sawyer, Sandra Semchuk & James Nicholas, George Smith, Michele Smith, Henry Tsang, Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, Colette Whiten, Paul Wong, Jin-me Yoon, Sharyn Yuen.

This book has been published in connection with the exhibition ‘Artists for Tichý—Tichý for Artists’ at Museum Moderner Kunst Passau, 2006-2007. His works was exhibited with the following artists; Zbynek Baladran, Peter Beard, Anna & Bernhard Blume, Polly Borland, BazonBuetti, Rabea Eipperle, Eva & Adele, Fischli/Weiss, Günther Förg, Katharina Grosse, Georg Herold, Jonathan Meese, Klaus Mettig, Ernesto Neto, Walter Niedermayr, Arno Nollen, Michael Nyman, Ralf Peters, Peter Piller, Arnulf Rainer, Pamela Rosenkranz, Thomas Ruff, Karin Sander, Adrian Schiess, Stefanie Schneider, Bernhard Schobinger, Katharina Sieverding, Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger, Vaclav Stratil, Annelies Strba, Miroslav Tichy, Keith Tyson, Peter Weibel, Andro Wekua, Georg Winter, Erwin Wurm, Angelika Zeller.

Copies available in original shrinkwrap

The history of the relationship between canines and humans is more complex than one would think. From Sparta to Stalingrad, the dogs of war, cleanup, guard duty, and companionship have been at our side; their loyalty knows no bounds, whether they are beloved pets or guardians of riot police or unsavoury fight fans. From companion to full-fledged member of the tribe, the dog has irrevocably moved into our homes, hearts and minds to such an extent that the boundaries between “owner” and “pet” have dissolved. The historical and contemporary photographs of To the Dogs explore this human-canine connection in ways that are alternately surprising, endearing, disturbing, and beautiful.

The book has photographs by William Wegman, Larry Towell, Lee Friedlander, Alec Soth, Pieter Hugo, Peter Hujar, Elliott Erwitt and many more. Photographs include depictions of local dog shows, a Moscow circus, a dogfight in Sarajevo, and a dog hotel in Japan. A major essay by the poet Peter Culley explores the international citizenry of dogs, and why they can tell us more about ourselves and our culture than we care to admit.

Exhibition dates: June 30 -August 5, 2007

Designed by Derek Barnett, Information Office. Printed and bound in Canada

Jazz was originally published in 1959, and since then it has become one of the most collectible photography books of the mid-twentieth century, ranking alongside the more widely known work of Christer Stromholm and Robert Frank. Like William Claxton’s Jazzlife and Dennis Stock’s Jazz Street, van der Elsken’s entry into the niche of music photography appeared just before the decisive moment when rock cemented its place as the popular music of choice for young people. It is perhaps the most successful of the era’s many photographic attempts to capture the essence of jazz, because it is more than just a succession of musicians’ portraits or even a documentary record of performance, but a book that visually echoes the music itself. Van Der Elsken’s work is that of both an authentic jazz fan and an experienced creator of photography books, who improvises in ways perfectly hooked in to both fields. Vince Aletti, writing in Artforum in 2000, said, “His jazz photos, made without flash in Amsterdam nightclubs, are gorgeous fields of grain, as moody and soulful as a sax riff,” and called Jazz “utterly original.”