Human Documents: Eight Photographers (Peabody Museum) - Tapa dura

These extraordinary photographs, from the eyes of eight very different photographers, remind us of the humanising role of photography. The images work at the blurred boundaries between anthropology and photographic practices as both attempt to translate different experiences of the world from one space to another. The photographers represented here are acutely aware of this challenge, and their images go back to the classic roots of the medium at its most powerful.--Elizabeth Edwards, Senior Research Fellow, University of the Arts, London

Human Documents is a book of stunning photographs which collectively show that visual art is more than merely illustrative.--Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains beyond Mountains

Some scholars are remembered as having been pioneers in their fields. In the case of Robert Gardner, an entire academic discipline, visual anthropology, came into being simply to formalize what he was already doing. For more than fifty years he has been an inspiration as an author, photographer, filmmaker, and teacher. Human Documents is a beautiful and profound book, as significant as any to appear since Susan Sontag's On Photography.--Wade Davis, author of The Serpent and the Rainbow

In nearly 100 images spanning geographies and cultures including India, Ethiopia, and the United States, Human Documents demonstrates the important role photography can play in still furthering our understanding of human nature and connecting people through an almost universal visual language.--Dominique James"San Francisco Book Review" (02/01/2010)