Wendy at home, Havana © Mariette Pathy Allen

More on the topic of gender (see Jill Peter's lovely Hijras in the mag).

Daylight Books is proud to announce the publication of Mariette Pathy Allen's wonderful long-term project TransCuba. 

"For more than 30 years, New York based photographer and painter Mariette Pathy Allen has been documenting transgender culture worldwide; in 2004 she won the Lambda Literary Award for her monograph The Gender Frontier. In her new publication, TransCuba, Allen focuses on the transgender community of Cuba, especially its growing visibility and acceptance in a country whose government is transitioning into a more relaxed model of communism under Raúl Castro's presidency. This publication therefore records a cultural watershed within Cuba. In addition to color photographs and interviews by Allen, the book also includes a contribution from Raúl Castro's daughter, Mariela Castro, who is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana. In 2005, Castro proposed a project, which became law three years later, to allow transgender individuals to receive sex reassignment surgery and change their legal gender."

Nomi and Miguel watching television. All images © Mariette Pathy Allen

I know Charles Traub as the founder and chairperson of the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media department at School of Visual Arts in New York so it's a pleasure to get an insight into his own, 50-year archive.  

His book Dolce Via: Italy in the 1980s is published by Damiani next month. "This volume is the first comprehensive compendium of his vivid color photographs made in early 1980s Italy, from Milan to Marsala. Characteristic of Traub's imagery is a candid intimacy that combines humor and spontaneity, which makes us long for an Italy that maybe only once was. Brilliant blues, reds, and yellows engulf the baroque posturing and gestures of strangers and ordinary people who become fond archetypical caricatures."

Wonderful news: a book of John Cyr's fabulous "Developer Trays" is out now from Powerhouse Books. 

Go full screen for this second feature from the series, and let your imagination develop your favourite images from each photographer.

View the magazine photo feature.

Read more about the project in our previous feature.

NY locals: there is a book launch and talk on Tuesday, March 18th, 2014, at the Powerhouse Arena, in DUMBO.

Here's another photographer I met at PhotoNOLA portfolio reviews. Bruce Morton studied photography, spent a year in the UK as a visiting artist (we did, as one always can, bond over British weather) but he took up landscaping and only returned to photography a few years ago. Bruce's positive personality and open nature is reflected in his imagery. 

His lovely book, 'Forgottonia,' is rich with a local's perspective of an isolated community, and is currently in its third printing. With a foreword by Aline Smithson and editing and book design by Paula Gillen.

Bruce explains:

 

Michelle Dunn Marsh has been in the world of book publishing for 20 years. She and her partners have recently launched a new company, Minor Matters, that is printing under a non-traditional model, sort of print-on-demand. Books are $50 and they only go into print once a minimum of 500 buyers have committed. 

The first 500 people who purchase are even listed within the book and each title will be given six months to reach the target 500+.

© Isatou

'See What I See,' part of The Gambia Media and Design Project, is "a collection of personal photographic insights into African life through the eyes of 18 Gambian students. The photographs are a result of several photography workshops that took place in The Gambia, organised and taught by Jessica Bishopp. After the workshops all the students were given an open brief and a disposable camera to use over four days and 'See What I See' is the result!"

The photographs were exhibited in London in September 2013, the exhibition was funded by O2 Telefonica and the London College of Communication. The photographs are also published in a photobook, 'See What I See' is £20 with proceeds to Gambian charities.

'Respecting My Elders - Age and the Creative Spirit' is Ellen Wallenstein's self-published book  (print ($25) and digital ($5) of wonderful portraits of 30 people over 80 years old who have affected the American culture. I took the easy route and asked for the women. 

'Europe in the Fifties. Through a Soldier's Lens' is a book of photographs by Bill Perlmutter, a soldier with the US army who traveled through Europe beginning in 1954. The photographs were presented for the first time earlier this year by the German house of seltmann+söhne who are thrilled to announce that the book just won silver in the prestigious Deutscher Fotobuchpreis. You can buy a copy of 'Europe in the Fifties' directly from them, for 40 Euros. Nice Christmas present if anyone's thinking of getting me something. 

Many thanks to seltmann+söhne for providing such great images for press. Glück!

Aglu make pocket photobooks - collectable little marvels, costing £5. One of their current releases, 'Ghost Ships,' features images made in artist Simon Jones' old house and "takes us on a voyage of discovery through frayed carpets and other domestic hazards." 

Jones makes "photographic artworks about memory, which usually involves the creation of small dioramas captured on location with a single exposure." 

Buy the pocket photobook.

© Klaus Pichler

Klaus Pichler's photographs from 'Skeletons in the Closet,' his project made in the Museum of Natural History, Vienna, from 2008 - 2011, are entertaining and at times baffling. He got the idea to gain access to the storage areas after he caught a glimpse into the museum's basement one night where he saw "an office with a desk, a computer, shelves and a stuffed antelope."  

Klaus has now self-published a limited edition book of the work. Every page is a winner and I love its format: small, square, utilitarian grey cardboard cover, but with a round window and a bear peeping through. Just €35! 

All images © Klaus Pichler

Also check out Klaus' early aCurator feature, 'Middle Class Utopia.'