The Drive to Archive : Conceptual Documentary Photobook Design

Abstract:
The term Conceptual Documentary has been used increasingly in recent years in response to certain shifts in documentary photography. By making sense of the world via an emphasis upon documentation, selection, editing and a cool, distanced and analytical aesthetic, Conceptual Documentary photography can be understood as a symptom of the archival impulse that pervades contemporary culture. This paper will address the particular implications of Conceptual Documentary photobooks as expressions of this archival impulse. With a focus on the books of the photographers Stephen Gill, Mathieu Pernot and Matthew Sleeth, it will assess the possibilities and limits of photobooks as alternative sites for the exhibition and reception of contemporary documentary photography.