Artistic Talent .... in Photography and Writing

These two new books each showcase an artistic project.

THE ATLAS OF BEAUTY: WOMEN OF THE WORLD IN 500 PORTRAITS by Mihaela Noroc is an amazing book which was several years in development. Noroc is a photographer whose work has become known through social media and her blog. She has traveled with a backpack and camera to over 50 countries to capture moving moments. After travelling to Ethiopia in 2013 and re-kindling her own interest in photographing women when she saw the variety (rural life in tribes, in conservative communities or in modern, urban settings) and beauty in that one country, Noroc expanded this project to cover more geographical distance as well as different ages and physical characteristics. She includes a brief story about many of the women who appear in her book and those are equally fascinating, particularly in light of the discrimination, social pressures and opportunities which Noroc encountered. She writes, “We shouldn’t build walls between us, based on gender, ethnicity, color, sexual orientation, or religion, but find paths that connect us … I hope this book will be one of those paths.”

THE ATLAS OF BEAUTY made me think of Robin Bowman’s It’s Complicated or Portrait Revolution by Julia L. Kay, two other works which celebrate diversity and to which our students are often directed. 

LIGHT THE DARK is edited by Joe Fassler, available in paperback, and contains essays by roughly 50 authors.  And quite a list it is: William Gibson, Khaled Hosseini, Mary Gaitskill, Billy Collins, Marilynne Robinson, etc.  It is an illuminating and eclectic look at whose work inspired each of them, for example: Michael Chabon (Jorge Luis Borges), Junot Díaz (Toni Morrison), Neil Gaiman (R.A. Lafferty), Walter Mosley (Raymond Chandler), and Jane Smiley (Charles Dickens).  I was previously unaware of the “By Heart” online series which Fassler had created for The Atlantic in 2013 and a source for many of the submissions.

I have already been talking about this brand new book with English teachers and they are eagerly waiting to begin reading the insights regarding “creativity, inspiration and the artistic process.” Fassler notes that "at the core of each of these pieces is a moment of transformative reading .... each contributor tells some version of the same story: I read something, and I wasn't the same afterward." LIGHT THE DARK seems like a perfect work for summer reading for our Senior Writers Seminar students, but I think it is one to keep referring to all year long. Library Journal gave it a starred review. 

For even more books on writing, see “The 28 Best Books on Writing,” recently posted on Penguin Random House’s Signature.