State of Emergency — Max Pinckers. Self-Published.
My head keeps buzzing while reading material dug up from only recently declassified archives and looking at the re-enactments of long-kept memories that include gruesome torture; stories performed by elderly Mau Mau, some so fragile that they didn’t live long enough to see their book. State of Emergency was made in 10 years, not just to gather pieces of history but as the Kenyan anti-colonial fighters' appeal for compensation and restitution. For the land, the freedom, and dignity colonial Britain took from them.
The Mau Mau veterans, as co-authors, surely believed in the truth-finding and participatory power of photography. To an extent that makes me feel uneasy. But Max Pinckers tackled this. He surveyed his own photographer role and discussed it – with the veterans during participation, and subtly with the reader in this skilful multi-layered book. A never-before so intimately researched and monumental now-or-never record, relevant for anyone who believes history can empower the future.
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!