The charm of roaches

CATHERINE CHALMERS

Published by Aperture Foundation, American Cockroach is a fascinating, if not enlightening, book by artist Catherine Chalmers. Be warned, if you dislike cockroaches, and there are almost 4,000 species, you're unlikely to be charmed. However, if you're feeling brave then you will be rewarded by this study of the most persecuted species on the planet. Grouped into three main sections: Residents; Imposters; and Execution, American Cockroach considers humanity more than it does the humble roach. Catherine's final section is perhaps the most poignant. Cockroaches are posed in various states of execution: the electric chair; hanging; and being burned at the stake, which are normally reserved for members of the community who have committed grievous crimes. The question Catherine asks is what have cockroaches done that is so bad that we have devised endless ways to kills them? For a species that has been around for some 400 million years, perhaps we need to think about them differently?

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

CORINNE MAY BOTZ

While The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death has been around since 2004, we've only recently secured our own copy for Huxley Library after reading it for the first time earlier this year. The artist behind the book is Corinne May Botz who has an eye for detail and a keen interest in other worlds. Filled with mystery and intrigue, this book is unputdownable. Equally fascinating is the story of Frances Glessner Lee, the creator of the small minitaure crime scenes photographed in sumptuous detail by Corinne.

Elemental & Fantom

It's quite exciting when a magazine you're expecting to arrive lands. It's even better when an unexpected book arrives with it. This week my copy of Fantom arrived with Elemental, a substantial monograph from Susan Derges. It's an apt arrival with Alchemy starting this week in Photomedia. In coming weeks I'll work towards putting up more in depth info about both Fantom and Elemental.

The Voyeur Volumes

Voyeur by Hans-Peter Feldmann is the latest addition to my library. The Voyeur volumes by Feldmann are picture books in the true sense of the word. Inside are collections of black and white images juxtaposed with others with sometimes surprising results. A book well worth tracking down is 272 Pages - it's in the Huxley library - which brings together a range of Feldmann's inspiring work.

Flirting with photography

Layout from Cutting Edges, Gestalten

The first in our Shelf Envy series is a new book called Cutting Edges, a survey of contemporary artists working with collage techniques. The original cut and pasters were the Dadaists who in the early 1900s disrupted and re-imagined photographic imagery in groundbreaking new ways with John Heartfield and Hannah Höch masters of the genre. In the 21st century new practitioners like John Stezaker and Peter Kennard are breathing new life into an exciting medium, one that has been embraced by a host of digital practitioners. Cutting Edges is bang on trend and follows Dutch art magazine Elephant who featured a raft of new collage artists in their Winter 2010-11 issue.