Among my daily computer-centric routines is clicking various bookmarks linked to online art and photography mags to see what’s new. Perhaps my greatest delight is when I find a fresh article on C4 Journal, aka Copy Copy Copy Copy. Today was one of those happy days.
C4 is the creation of Callum Beaney and Eugénie Shinkle, who have recruited various writers to review photobooks (mostly) and photographic exhibitions (less frequently). The writing is always extremely good, and I just don’t know where else to hope for such attention to things photographic. N’existe pas.
Eugénie Shinkle.
The source of my delight is a new article by Benjamin Jones reviewing a recent but past exhibition of the work of photographer Jeff Cowan. Reading Jones puts me in my place. It reminds me that I’m just a photographer writing about photography whereas Jones, and the other contributors to C4, are actually art writers, with a much-deeper understanding of what that calls for and a greater dedication to those skills than I have.
Instillation shot from Jeff Cowen, Asemia, at Cassius & Co.
Eugénie herself is a very interesting photographer, and I have one of her books. (Or is it a zine? I get so confused by the distinction, if any). She lives in London, but the writers she publishes come from all over, near as I can tell. And despite the bigger-ness of the Aperture website, for example, C4 frequently covers the less-obvious photographers and strikes me as much more weighty and consequential.
Eugénie Shinkle. Rockfall.
I’m not going to say any more than this. I just want to make sure you know about C4 and have it bookmarked, as I do. And to encourage C4 to keep doing what they’re doing. For me, it’s like coming up for air after swimming under water. What would I do if it wasn’t there?