Strange Hours: Photography, Memory, and the Lives of Artists

A photograph lives in multiple eras at once: the time of its making, the time of its unveiling, the time of its subsequent rediscovery. Rebecca Bengal

In Strange Hours: Photography, Memory, and the Lives of Artists, Rebecca Bengal considers the photographers who have defined our relationship to the medium. Through generous essays and interviews, she contemplates photographys narrative power, from the radical intimacy of Nan Goldins New York demimonde to Justine Kurlands pictures of rebel girls on the open road. Bengal brings us closer to pioneering artists and the personal and political stories surrounding their images. She travels with Alec Soth in Minneapolis, searching for the houses where Prince once lived, and revisits Chauncey Hares 1979 protest against the Museum of Modern Art. She speaks with Dawoud Bey about his evocative portraits and explores Diana Markosians cinematic take on her familys immigration to the US. Throughout Strange Hours, Bengals prose is attuned to the alchemy of experience, chance, and vision that has always pushed photographys potential for unforgettable storytelling. See more