How doing an audit of your book and photobook collection can lead to some important home truths and realizations, and how to address them, plus news, one image and endnotes.
Genuinely surprised by the lack of responses to this. Are people afraid to engage, or afraid of what they'll see on their bookshelves? Or do people just not care?
Well done. I'm curious to see where you are now three years into this exercise, especially given the additional attention this article is receiving.
Also, the idea of intentionally seeking out and looking for diverse thoughts and voices applies to all forms of the visual and performing arts. Attention is being paid and progress is definitely being made, but there is still a long way to go.
Thanks Glenn. I haven't done an audit in a while, I should do one soon. I absolutely agree with you on this applying to all forms of arts, and also writing as Melissa Lyttle has pointed out.
No surprise - my book collection had 52 by women and 115 by men. Definitely a point of consideration. Representation matters! This will be my New Years Resolution - to expand my library and reading to more diverse authors. We can and should do better. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for this post, Ed. I'm sure my shelves are similarly stacked toward the white male set. I'm of two minds on this: on the one hand, I always go toward the pictures that catch my eye. Yet a big part of my work is promoting the people who make the pictures that inspire me. I do think we need to be intentional in casting a wide net when it comes to amplifying a diversity of voices. I certainly have room to grow in this area. I suspect we all do.
It would be really interesting for someone like you, who I am sure has a vast set of photobooks, much bigger than mine, did this. The stoics believe intention is everything, but without action... in this case seeking out diverse voices and viewpoints, is it worth much?
![The[ED]it](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10fafd9a-1b10-453f-8b58-eac6fa884cd0_600x600.png)
Genuinely surprised by the lack of responses to this. Are people afraid to engage, or afraid of what they'll see on their bookshelves? Or do people just not care?
Well done. I'm curious to see where you are now three years into this exercise, especially given the additional attention this article is receiving.
Also, the idea of intentionally seeking out and looking for diverse thoughts and voices applies to all forms of the visual and performing arts. Attention is being paid and progress is definitely being made, but there is still a long way to go.
Thanks Glenn. I haven't done an audit in a while, I should do one soon. I absolutely agree with you on this applying to all forms of arts, and also writing as Melissa Lyttle has pointed out.
No surprise - my book collection had 52 by women and 115 by men. Definitely a point of consideration. Representation matters! This will be my New Years Resolution - to expand my library and reading to more diverse authors. We can and should do better. Thank you for sharing.
Good on you, and good luck.
Thank you for the read, this is extremely important and generally people do not think about these things before choosing what to read.
Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm glad it stimulated a thoughtful discussion.
Thanks for this post, Ed. I'm sure my shelves are similarly stacked toward the white male set. I'm of two minds on this: on the one hand, I always go toward the pictures that catch my eye. Yet a big part of my work is promoting the people who make the pictures that inspire me. I do think we need to be intentional in casting a wide net when it comes to amplifying a diversity of voices. I certainly have room to grow in this area. I suspect we all do.
It would be really interesting for someone like you, who I am sure has a vast set of photobooks, much bigger than mine, did this. The stoics believe intention is everything, but without action... in this case seeking out diverse voices and viewpoints, is it worth much?
I'm sure the results would be similar as your findings. Maybe someday!