Writing

Photography: Real and Imagined

National Gallery of Victoria (2023)

In this publication, 295 photographs from the National Gallery of Victoria, by Australian and international photographers, are richly illustrated and explored through 21 themes.  The book also includes three major essays including an introductory essay by Susan van Wyk; a text by Susan Bright examining the idea of the photograph as a document of the ‘real’; and a piece by David Campany exploring the imaginative capacity of photography.

Tough Pleasures: Toni Wilkinson

T&J Publishing / Chatwin Books (2023)

In Tough Pleasures,  Toni Wilkinson presents a series of domestic portraits which reinterpret the conflicted dynamics of femininity and food, playfully exploring provocative motifs of forbidden fruit, sexuality, religion and the absurd. Drawing on Wilkinson’s masterly skill in portraiture, Tough Pleasures takes audiences on a suburban food odyssey.  

eleven years: Brea Souders

Saint Lucy Books (2021)

This is the first monograph by the Brooklyn-based artist and features works from 2010 to 2021. Souders’ images capture fleeting materiality, as seen in her sculptural works created with static electricity and film cut-ups, paintings on film emulsion, and hand-colored photographs of disembodied human shadows imprinted upon the Western landscape. Essays by Kim Beil, Susan Bright and Mark Alice Durant.

Past Paper // Present Marks: Responding to Rauschenberg

Radius Books (2021)

In 2018, Jennifer Garza-Cuen and Odette England spent a week at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency in Captiva, Florida, collaborating on a series of nearly 200 photograms.The images were made in Rauschenberg’s swimming pool using expired 1970s gelatin silver paper found in his darkroom. Essays by Susan Bright, David Campany and Nicholas Muellner.

Running Falling Flying Floating Crawling

Saint Lucy Booked (Edited by Mark Alice Durant, 2021)

Running Falling Flying Floating Crawling is a loose compendium of photographs and texts that picture, examine, explore, and / or suggest the human body in states of abandon, helplessness, terror, subjugation, serenity, and transcendence.

¿Déjà Vu?

PHotoESPAÑA (2019)

Commissioned to coincide with the Guest Curation of PHotoESPAÑA 2019 this publication draws on the commonalities between the work exhibited. This includes: art history, painting, miscommunication, collaboration and the archive. Available in both Spanish and English.

Mountains of Kong: Jim Naughten

Hoop Editions (2019)

The introduction to this book considers Naughten’s questioning of the veracity of the photograph; the authenticity of map making; the desires for reality and fantasy; and the malleability of history.

Playground: Elina Brotherus

Parvs (2018)

Susan Bright, Candy Graphics and Elina Brotherus together conceived this handmade box to coincide with Brotherus’ solo exhibition at Serlachius Museum in Finland. It contains an essay by Susan Bright and is limited to 200. It contains 80 cards representing work from 2016 – 2018. All editions are signed by the artist.

Old Future: Erik Madigan Heck

Thames and Hudson (2017)

Susan Bright interviewed and wrote an overview of fashion photographer Erik Madigan Heck’s work to date in his first monograph.

My Horizon: Tracey Moffatt

Thames and Hudson (2017)

Published to coincide with the 57th International Art exhibition of the Venice Biennale, My Horizon is edited by Natalie King. Contributing authors include: Germano Celant, Adrian Martin, Moira Roth, Susan Bright, Djon Mundine, Alexis Wright, and Romaine Moreton.

Le Gendarme sur la Colline: Alessandra Sanguinetti

Aperture (2017)

As part of the 'Immersion, A French-American Photography Commission' between Aperture and the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Susan Bright mentored Alessandra Sanguinetti as she travelled around France. In addition she wrote an accompanying essay for the book which she also helped edit.

Kinderwunsch: Ana Casas Broda

La Fabrica (2013)

In this moving project, Mexican photographer Ana Casas Broda explores the complexity of motherhood and her relationship with her two sons. Susan Bright advised on the editing of the book and wrote an essay on based on both her photographs and texts.

How We Do Both: Art and Motherhood

Secretary Press (2012)

How We Do Both is a book of collected interviews based around the three following questions: How do you logistically balance art making and motherhood, does your artmaking require a “room of one’s own”? And did having children enhance your creativity? Susan Bright contributed a chapter to the book which featured a range of photographers, artists and those working in creative fields.

Artist and Her Model: Elina Brotherus

Le Caillou Bleu (2012)

In this artists monograph, Susan Bright concentrated on four photographs in her essay. Two from the beginning of Brotherus’ career and two from recent projects. The monograph is a contemplation on midlife and being a midcareer artist. It explores the themes of art history and autobiography that reverberate through Brotherus’ work.

Double Life: Kelli Connell

Decode Books (2011)

In this essay Susan Bright linked the work of Connell to the intricate 19th Century albums made by Kate Gough the writer Virginia Wolff. By connecting these women she was able to examine the themes of time and twinning across different mediums and circumstances.

Out of The Dark Room: The David Kronn Collection

IMMA (2011)

Released to coincide with an exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) Susan Bright’s essay focused on how children and their carers had been photographed in the collection. Additional texts by Seán Kissane, David Kronn and Carol Squiers.

Mossless 1: Alone Together

Mossless (2011)

Edited by Romke Hoogwaerts, this collection of four contemporary photographers was the first in a series of book like magazines (or magazine style books) that brought together young artists that considered America, both individuality and a through a collective consciousness. It was shown at MoMA’s exhibition Millennium Magazines and is held in the collection.

Silence: Brad Rimmer

T&G Publishing (2010)

This project by Brad Rimmer contemplates the act of returning ‘home’ and ideas of a community that has been left behind. Susan Bright wrote the accompanying essay that considered Rimmer’s quiet meditation on familiarity and alienation, beauty and poverty.