STATEMENT
I’m delighted to announce the release of a major publication titled Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography. The book was co-edited by EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe, Plein sud, centre d’exposition en art actuel à Longueuil and Kerber Verlag (Berlin). Handsome and lushly illustrated, the publication was designed by Dominique Mousseau and features two comprehensive essays on my practice by Joan Fontcuberta and Mona Hakim. The publication was produced in both French and English versions and is currently available for purchase (see “Availability” information below).
Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography follows an aspect of my practice in which I perform before the camera in order to examine how photography (and, to a lesser extent, cinema) works and doesn’t work. In each of the six projects I selected for the publication, I use myself as a surrogate for photography and, by focusing the camera on myself, I am actually turning the spectator’s gaze upon the very nature of photography. In an absurd but rigorous manner, I’m trying to become photography. The book addresses the following six projects: Before the Camera (1991), Before Photography (2010), The Photographer (2015), After (2020), On Photography (2020), and The Complete Photographer (2020).
Description
February 2021
ISBN 978-3-7356-0732-4
23.5 × 28.6 cm (9 ¼ x 11 ¼ in)
136 Pages
54 colour and 100 b/w illustrations
Hardcover
English
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for their support of the publication. I would also like to thank everyone who worked on the book, particularly Dominique Mousseau, Joan Fontcuberta, Mona Hakim as well as the teams at EXPRESSION, Plein sud and Kerber Verlag.
Awards
Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography short-listed for the 21|22 Deutscher Fotobuch Preis (German Photo Book Award), Stuttgart.
CHUCK SAMUELS: BECOMING PHOTOGRAPHY: AVAILABILITY
Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography is currently available in Canada at Expression, Plein sud as well as online at the websites of Plein sud (English version; French version). The French edition is distributed in Canada in several French-language bookstores by Diffusion Dimedia Inc., on behalf of the Collectif d’éditeurs en art contemporain (CÉAC), of which Expression and Plein sud are members. The English edition is distributed in Canada and in the U.S. in select bookstores by D.A.P. | Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. (one of Kerber Verlag’s partners). In Europe, the book can be purchased directly from Kerber Verlag (English version; French version) or can be found in selected bookstores. A complete list of Kerber Verlag’s international distribution partners, who market the book in over 85 countries worldwide, can be found here.
CHUCK SAMUELS: BECOMING PHOTOGRAPHY: BIBLIOGRAPHY
2023 Alasdair Foster, “In Photography,” Interview on Talking Pictures website, Brisbane, Australia.
2022 Carole Coen, “Huitième art en « je »,” Fisheye Magazine, No. 51, Paris, January-February 2022, p. 110-111.
Ulrich Rüter, “Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography,” Leica Fotografie International, 1.2022, Hamburg, January 2022, p. 112.
2021 Sylvain Campeau, “Chuck Samuels. Devenir la photogaphie,” Ciel variable, no. 118, Automne/Fall 2021, Montréal, p. 93-94.
Robert Enright, “The Man with the Moving Camera,” Border Crossings, Vol. 40, No. 2, Issue 157, August 2021, p. 100-111.
Gabrielle Sarthou, “Devenir la photographie. Chuck Samuels,” Espace art actuel, No. 129, Automne/Fall 2021, p. 109.
Sevia Pellissier, “Chuck Samuels. Devenir la photographie,” Vie des arts, No. 263, Vol. LXVI, Montréal, Été 2021, p. 89.
Joan Fontcuberta, “Històries i contrahistòries,” El món d’ahir, No. 19, Barcelona, Summer 2021, p. 50-69.
Donald Bracket, “How to Throw Your Voice Visually: Becoming Photography,” Critics At Large (criticsatlarge.ca), May 26, 2021, n.p.
Jérome Delgado, “Tête de star,” Le Devoir (Le D Magazine), April 17, 2021, p. 23.
Christian Gattinoni, “Portrait de l’homme photographique dans l’histoire de ses chef-d’oeuvres,” LaCritique.org, 24 mars, n.p. 2021
Chuck Samuels, “Scabs, Runny Noses & Wardrobe Malfunctions,” Ciel variable, No. 116, January 2021, Montréal, p. 95-98.
CHUCK SAMUELS: BECOMING PHOTOGRAPHY: EXHIBITION
These same six projects were presented in a large exhibition inspired by the publication and extended over two venues. Plein sud, centre d’exposition en art actuel à Longueuil hosted Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography: 1991-2010 from March 13 – April 24, 2021, while EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe presented Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography: 2015-2020, from February 27 – April 25, 2021.