Anchor in the Landscape — Adam Broomberg & Rafael Gonzalez. Published by MACK.
I would love to sit with them, drawing. Or just to look at them and listen to their stories. Because, how can I not wrap my arms and mind around them – the swaying, the playful, the elegant and slender, the understated – and the voluminous, the luscious, those full of fuss. Fresh or ancient and battered but seemingly indestructible, that's how these shepherds and kings, the olive trees of the Occupied Territories of Palestine, represent their land in Anchor in the Landscape.
A quarter to a third of the people in the West Bank depend on their olive trees. But these are under attack by settlers and Israeli authorities, who have destroyed 800,000 Palestinian olive trees since 1967. The trees became markers in a changing, contested, and often destroyed landscape. And totems of Palestinian identity, culture, and resistance. You don't have to hug them but look, you cannot easily uproot all shepherds and kings.
Viory Schellekens is a photographer with a background in journalism. She fills her home in The Hague with photobooks, and this year she is producing her 10th List-of-Lists, a compilation of mostly some 100 year-end-lists made by more than 200 luminaries and devotees involved in the art of photobooks. Related is the Meta-List, which shows which books were most mentioned this year. It also gives a quick overview of all who selected your published work. Both anthologies will be published and daily updated on her Facebook page. Got a list too? Let her know!