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APERTURE
Stanley Greene: Black Passport
Text by Teun van der Heijden.
The archetype of the war correspondent is freighted with an outsize heroic mythos to which world-renowned conflict photographer Stanley Greene is no stranger. Black Passport is his autobiographical monograph-cum-scrapbook, and it transports the viewer behind the news as Greene reflects upon his career, oscillating between the relative safety of life in the West and the traumas of wars abroad. This glimpse of the polarities that have comprised Greene's life raises essential questions about the role of the photojournalist, as well as concerns about its repercussions: what motivates someone to willingly confront death and misery? To do work that risks one's life? Is it political engagement, or a sense of commitment to telling difficult stories? Or does being a war photographer simply satisfy a yearning for adventure? Black Passport offers an experience that is both exceptionally personal and ostensibly objective. Built around Greene's narrating monologue, the book's 26 short, nonsequential “scenes” are each illustrated by a portfolio of his work.
FROM THE BOOK
"Probably every man fantasizes about being a hero. But what is a real hero? What makes one? In my long association with the World Press Photo contest, I have noticed that during the awards ceremony, war photographers always look different. Heroic, even. The arts, nature, and sports photographers were invariably smartly dressed when they went to collect their prizes. But war photographers are something else, done up in some sort of half-soldier costume. Just who are these guys, I wondered. This book became a way of finding out…I was intrigued by how Stanley presented himself--often larger than life--and by what made war photography so tempting to him. Just what was the character of a war photographer?...He is a defender of people who have no voice, a warrior against injustice…Stanley believes that a soldier is a sort of a slave, not an individual, always subservient to the group. A war photographer is in a way part of this group, but is always independent."
Teun van der Heijden, excerpted from his text to Black Passport.
FORMAT: Pbk, 6.75 x 8.75 in. / 288 pgs / 125 color / 75 duotone. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $70 ISBN: 9781597111416 PUBLISHER: Aperture AVAILABLE: 3/31/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: No longer our product AVAILABILITY: Not Available
Published by Aperture. Text by Teun van der Heijden.
The archetype of the war correspondent is freighted with an outsize heroic mythos to which world-renowned conflict photographer Stanley Greene is no stranger. Black Passport is his autobiographical monograph-cum-scrapbook, and it transports the viewer behind the news as Greene reflects upon his career, oscillating between the relative safety of life in the West and the traumas of wars abroad. This glimpse of the polarities that have comprised Greene's life raises essential questions about the role of the photojournalist, as well as concerns about its repercussions: what motivates someone to willingly confront death and misery? To do work that risks one's life? Is it political engagement, or a sense of commitment to telling difficult stories? Or does being a war photographer simply satisfy a yearning for adventure? Black Passport offers an experience that is both exceptionally personal and ostensibly objective. Built around Greene's narrating monologue, the book's 26 short, nonsequential “scenes” are each illustrated by a portfolio of his work.
