Book tip: Measuring Time

Jeffrey A. Wolin is a storyteller. The direct combination of pictures and text plays a decisive role in his series: the images feature life stories, memories, and hopeful wishes, or small comments applied to the portraits, turning the motifs into touching and personal records. In this series, reading and viewing enter into an exciting coexistence, underlining the two dimensions of the pieces and condensing the stories into processes of dialogue.

The photo book complements a retrospective exhibition, held last year at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University in Bloomington. In 2019, Wolin donated his work to the museum. In appreciation, the museum organised a multi-faceted tribute to the photographer, in the form of an exhibition and a photo book. Wolin, born in 1951, is a Professor Emeritus of Photography and founder of the Center for Integrative Photographic Studies at the IU Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design, where he worked as a director from 1994 to 2002. The earliest pieces in this photo book – which is composed of twelve groups of works – date from the early seventies, while the most recent motifs were taken just a few years ago. Wolin's best-known projects include the series Written in Memory: Portraits of the Holocaust; Inconvenient Stories: Vietnam War Veterans; and Pigeon Hill: Then & Now.

The photographer deals with his contemporaries with the greatest respect and appreciation, making space for their personal stories – even when their life situations and experiences are overshadowed by poverty, war and trauma. According to Wolin, his first job as a police photographer influenced his open attitude, and shaped his respect for human resilience. He is a profound chronicler, often returning years later to portray his protagonists for a second time. His innovative approach allows those portrayed to speak through writing on the pictures, and gives the motifs enormous poignancy. With the texts, Wolin's humanistic, visual aspiration is enhanced by another level: the handwritten memories of the individuals portrayed turn the motifs into universal experiences. As a result of this unusual interweaving of words and image, more associative possibilities open up for the viewer. The photo book is an invitation to dive into the photographer's impressive body of work.