Light matters

"Vicki Goldberg is one of the leading voices in photography criticism today. Her writings have been regularly featured in such respected national publications as the New York Times, American Photo, and Vanity Fair. Light Matters: Writings on Photography gathers for the first time a selection of this author's essays and criticism, culled from her writings published over the past twenty-five years." "Goldberg's take on photography is both insightful and expansive: her subjects range from pop icons to the imagery of death, from the commercial use of journalistic images to the onslaught of sexual content in art photography. She casts new light on the work of the medium's established masters, among them Walker Evans, Brassai, Lee Friedlander, and Diane Arbus. And she writes with equal acuity about contemporary trailblazers such as Eleanor Antin, Peter Hujar, and Martin Parr. Goldberg also tackles provocative issues confronting the medium, such as the use of photography in defining racial and cultural identity and the camera's powerful position in an increasingly commodified society. Together, the twenty-seven essays in this volume explore the defining role of photography in our lives and in our world."--Jacket.