DAVEY, Moyra
Portrait Mode

I feel a specter of cringe sometimes when I review my portraits—there might be evidence of transformation in the quality of light on flesh, and in the rendering of flesh to fine-grain film, but if the photograph does not alight from its source in some imponderable way, then it has failed—when we take a picture, the resulting image must telegraph more than the earnest facts of the referent.

YES! Moyra Davey’s latest book—published on the occasion of her show at n.b.k., Berlin—develops as an essay about portrati photography, in which she goes back to her own work and archive, and discusses the work of other artists—in particular five women: Justine Kurland, Shala Miller, Carla Williams, Alix Cléo Roubaud, Francesca Woodman—and evokes writers from Walter Benjamin and Sveltana Alpers to Guillaume Dustan. Another must-read!!

Published by n.b.k., 2025
Artists' Books / Artists' Writings / Photography