American Photobooth Exhibit

anonymous photobooth photo. Copyright Nakki Goranin from American Photobooth, WW Norton 2008

Who amongst us hasn’t enjoyed a trip to a photobooth and then tucked those strips of paper into photo albums or given them away to friends? What happens when those pictures, made so casually, leave their original owners and begin to circulate publicly though flea markets, antique dealers and auctions?

One answer: they become Art and History.

Burlington, Vermont artist, writer and photo historian Nakki Goranin has collected several hundred of these images into a new book,  American Photobooth, to be published in February by W.W. Norton & Co. Leading the now hot trend in collecting vernacular photography, Goranin   spent twenty five years gathering thousands of photobooth images made since their invention in the 1920’s.

anonymous photo booth photo. Copyright 2008 Nakki Goranin from  the book American Photobooth

A selection of these pictures. along with images of original booths and their settings, make up the body of the new book, along with the social and technological history of this photographic phenomenon. Several of Goranin’s own photobooth-based works are also included.

Goranin’s collection will make it’s exhibition debut at Burlington VT's Pine Street Art Works in  February and March. Dozens of images from the book, enlarged for exquisite viewing, will be included in the exhibit.

Anonymous photobooth photo. Copyright 2008 Nakki Goranin from the book American Photobooth

American Photobooth, which has already been cited in The New York Times and The New Yorker, is sure to be one of the most talked about photo books of 2008. After it’s debut at Pine Street Art Works, the pictures will travel to New York City for exhibition at a major New York City photography museum.

Signed copies of the book will be available at Pine Street Art Works, and the artist/author will be on hand at the opening, Saturday, February 9th, from 2-5.

Comments

[Maggie Jochild]

I know these images are anonymous, but I wish someone could answer (make it up, somebody):

(1) Mr. Devo Wannabe, what year do we think this is from? What kind of ring is that he's wearing? And is that a wig (I think I see dark edges at the back and near the sideburn) -- if it's his hair, it looks nearly dead. What is he trying to represent?
(2) The African-American couple have such tenderness together, it clutches at my heart. What era is that sailor costume? I'm think immediately post World War II, mostly because of the guy's hairstyle.
(3) Pointyhat from the Blackfoot Fair -- seems like he was persuaded to pop in for a photo while he was likely working the fair. The hat seems to be made of paper, but its shape precludes any real functionality except to give him a point. He's enjoying the joke, nonetheless. A Google search turns up many mentions of the Blackfoot Fair in Pocatello, Idaho. Is he perhaps selling baked potatoes? Or frybread?

[liza cowan]

I think that you've touched on some of the reasons that people are moved by found or historical photobooth pictures. The images are so immediate, so personal, yet so elusive. We long to know the stories. Or we want to make them up.

I'm a bit obsessed with the lady and her dog. In my imagination, she's a tiny bit down on her luck but full of dignity. She's a spinster and has always worked somehow with books or language. She lives in New York City and has just come from tea at Schraffts. She's stopped at the Woolworth's on 86th and Lexington to take her picture with her dog to send to her sister in Cleveland.

[eb]

I like that story - or maybe Omaha...

xox - eb.

[eb]

Maggie - I love these questions...

xox - eb.