A few great photo books whose subject just happens to be Indiana…
Homeless in Jeffersonville, Indiana: Portraits and Landscapes between 1997 and 2004
Photographs by Dana Lixenberg. Essays by Karel Schampers and Hilton Als.
Artimo, Amsterdam, 2005. 104 pp., 47 color illustrations, 11½x16½”
Used, out of print, $35
Dutch-born photographer Dana Lixenberg first arrived at Haven House Services in Jeffersonville IN on assignment for Jane magazine – and returned many times since, resulting in this wonderful book…
Publishers description
From 1997 to 2004, Lixenberg regularly visited the town to photograph homeless people who had found temporary shelters through Haven House Services. Characteristically, though, she does not confront us with spectacular, dramatic photos of the down and out, but discovers families put out on the street because they can no longer afford rent, single mothers who cannot support their children, and men who have been injured on the job without benefit of health insurance. Lixenberg’s clear-headed and empathetic vision comes through in this series of portraits of people who have only just fallen through the cracks.
McClellan Street
Photographs by David and Peter Turnley. Foreword by John G. Morris.
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2007. 136 pp.
New $29.95
It is pretty amazing that these photos were taken when the artists were only 17.
Publishers description
More than 100 black-and-white images of a working-class neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the 1970s grace the pages of this photo-essay produced by acclaimed photographers David and Peter Turnley. These hauntingly beautiful, raw and real photographs documenting life on McClellan Street were taken by the Turnley twins with a single camera as a high-school project. Although the brothers did not grow up on McClellan Street, their photographs represent a very personal, sincere, direct, and loving interaction with life on a street in the heartland of America. Many of the McClellan Street residents had migrated from Appalachia and some were of Hispanic origin. In a neighborhood that many might have ignored, the young Turnleys saw beauty, diversity, and wonderment. With a maturity beyond their years, they captured the life of this community for future generations.
The Calumet Region: An American Place
Photographs by Gary Cialdella. Text by Gary Cialdella, Gregg Hertzlieb, and John Ruff.
University of Illinois Press, 2009. 120 pp., 95 duotone illustrations., 9×12″.
New $39.95
Publishers description
The Calumet Region: An American Place presents a series of black and white images by an insightful observer of Northwest Indiana’s industrial/residential landscape. A professional architectural photographer, established fine artist, educator, and historian, Gary Cialdella found himself drawn to the region of his youth for a photographic exploration that has lasted more than twenty years and that has resulted in hundreds of rich and complex works. Nearly one hundred of those images appear in this book, reflecting the artist’s sensitive, sustained vision and the changes the region has experienced through economic shifts and the general effects of time.
This artist book contains selected poems from Jake Webster and David Casper. Each book cover is an original 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ painting by Jake. Check out some samples of book covers below – each is one of a kind.
RSS feed