This reading room seeks to engage photobook makers and consumers in an urgent discussion about sustainability. How are we making books? How are we distributing books? How can we make responsible choices as a consumer?
To understand the relevance of thinking about environmentally conscious practices, we need to consider how books are made and what happens to them when they are no longer needed. The materials used to make and distribute books (eg.paper, printing, inks and packaging) all use valuable resources and industrial processes that create waste and are potentially harmful to the planet. Publishing is the third largest industrial greenhouse emitter when it comes to pulp and paper. Forty percent of solid waste in landfills is paper. Thinking more responsibly about what materials are used, where they come from and what happens to them at the end of their life can play a part in establishing an environmental balance.
This hands-on reading room showcases a selection of these case study books. The physical interaction makes tangible the scale, materiality and production of sustainable choices. Alongside the exhibition we will run a series of events to create discussion and to share practical information.
List of Books
- NECK volume 3 – 38 contributors (NECK: 2022)
- The Problem Horse & Other Stories – Julie Sleaford (Self published: 2022)
- Losing Ground – David O’Mara (Self-published: 2018)
- Iconoclastic Inventory of the Chilean Insurrection – A.A.V.V. (SED Editorial: 2021)
- One Hundred Years – Jenny Lewis (Hoxton Mini Press: 2021)
- Geometric Forests: Struggles on Mapuche Land – Ritual Inhabitual (Actes Sud: 2022)
- H is for Hemp – Maren Krings (Self-published: 2022)
- The Silent Land – Jesse Alexander (VIKA: 2021)
- Monsanto® – Mathieu Asselin (Actes Sud / Verlag Kettler: 2017)
- Curator Conversations – 1000 Words (1000 Words: 2021)
- Beyond Drifting – Mandy Barker (Overlapse: 2017)
- Creative Climate Investigations – Climate & Cities (Folium: 2022)
- Contranatura – João Pedro Lima (Selo Turvo: 2022)
- re.source – The Sustainable Darkroom (Folium: 2022)
- Book Waste Book – Temporary Services (Half Letter Press: 2022)
- Scale & Substance – Tamsin Green (manual.editions: 2022)
- Recorder – Miranda Lichtenstein (Loose Joints: 2021)
- Fastidiosa – Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni (Overlapse: 2022)
- The Space Between Us – Ed Sykes (Self Published: 2021)
- this is how the earth must see itself – Tamsin Green (manual.editions: 2021)
- Kunywa Jasho Langu: Coffee Kenya – Jake Green (Leyton of London: 2018)
- (Copy) 80. The Schwarze Mönch – Sayako Sugawara (Self Published: 2021)
- Trinity – Oliver Raymond Barker (Loose Joints: 2021)
The Sustainable Photobook Publishing (SPP) network
The Sustainable Photobook Publishing (SPP) network is a group of photographers, publishers, academics and writers who discuss and share knowledge on issues around environmentally conscious approaches to photobook publishing in printed form. All of us have different starting points and ideas of what constitutes a sustainable practice. Through ongoing conversations, we spark new ways of thinking, and develop resources that support and actively encourage individual practitioners in their search for a more environmentally conscious approach to photobook publishing.
The network was formed in 2021 by Tamsin Green.
