In Focus: "Colour Theory" by Max Pinckers and Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras and "Violent Images" edited by Eva Leitolf and Giulia Cordin

The latest photobooks picks by Der Greif

“In Focus” is Der Greif’s photobook review series, spotlights our picks from the current open call for submissions and our community artists most recent publications. This month, we are taking a closer look at “Colour Theory” by Max Pinckers and Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras and “Violent Images” edited by Eva Leitolf and Giulia Cordin.

“Colour Theory” is a collaborative visual research by artistic duo Max Pinckers and Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras, exploring the use of red among National Geographic photographers. Self-published in a first edition of three hundred copies, the book explores the myth of the 'Red Shirt School of Photography', which is based on the belief that, after the introduction of Kodachrome film, photographers were influenced to use red props and clothing in their shoots, and therefore influenced others to do the same. Introduced in 1936, Kodachrome was renowned for its vibrant reds, and National Geographic photographers were among the first to adopt this new colour film enthusiastically. Pinckers and Gonzalez-Figueras gathered images from National Geographic magazines published between 1936 and 2009 – a period that coincided with the lifetime of Kodachrome.

The selection and sequencing of the images in “Colour Theory” reveal a consistent pattern: an array of similar compositions, featuring small, red-wearing human figures standing before vast natural landscapes. Often with their backs to the viewer, these figures are captured admiring what lies ahead. Despite the striking difference in scale, this comparison between man and nature does not exactly convey a sense of human fragility and finiteness; rather, it seems to emphasize human dominance and greatness.

The artists tie the project to the concept of 'Monarch of all I survey', a sentiment frequently evoked by landscape and wildlife photography and borrowed from a poem by William Cowper. The poem begins as follows: “I am monarch of all I survey / My right there is none to dispute / From the centre all round to the sea / I am lord of the fowl and the brute.” These verses channel the protagonist's sense of undisputed authority: by ruling over everything they see, they can choose what to see. In visual culture, this concept challenges photography’s claim to objectivity, turning attention to how perspective and meaning are fabricated.

The images assert a dominant point of view. Whether through the subjects' use of red or their solemn pose à la Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, the viewer is shown what they see and survey, and is lured into adopting that point of view. In “Colour Theory”, Pinckers and Gonzalez-Figueras layer their own perspective onto the photographer’s and the subjects', in an exercise that disrupts the viewer's subconscious assimilation of visual codes.

In a sense, “Violent Images” is a similar exercise, though it focuses on “visual violence”. Edited by Eva Leitolf and Giulia Cordin and published by Nero Editions, the book examines how violence is presented in visual culture and the impact this has on society. In their opening essay, “Reframing Violence”, Leitolf and Cordin argue that images should be analysed as “a medium that conceals and reveals”. Therefore, an image can also be considered violent if it undermines the viewer’s ability to understand and navigate the complexity of what is shown. With contributions from over forty artists, researchers and scholars from diverse fields, “Violent Images” presents a series of photo essays drawing on diverse contexts and artistic practices, including documentary photography, photojournalism and the use of artificial intelligence.

At first glance, flicking through the book, the images remain hidden. The book appears to be a collection of essays and academic texts. All of the images are placed inside fold-out pages that open on the right-hand side of the publication. This design aspect, which Leitolf and Cordin describe as “an integral part of the research process”, reasserts agency in the consumption of such images. The layout subverts the image-first, contextless dynamics of modern-day visual intake. In “Violent Images”, to see the image is a choice, a step that requires further action: the viewer’s active participation, engagement, and consent.

By halting the immediacy intrinsic to contemporary visual circulation, the photo book is intended to foster critical awareness of image interpretation. By reclaiming agency over what we choose to see, Leitolf and Cordin's work highlights the need for greater attentiveness and consideration in communication.

Both “Colour Theory and Violent Images” unsettle the traditional mechanisms of image consumption. By analysing how meaning is created through cycles of circulation, reiteration and repetition, and finally normalization, both books seek to disrupt these patterns. In “Colour Theory”, the images are contained within multiple frames. The first is shaped by the subject's perspective. The second is shaped by the photographers’ point of view. The third is shaped by the book and Pinckers and Gonzales-Figueira’s intervention. As these different perspectives are layered together, the reader begins to question their own perspective. Similarly, “Violent Images” catalyzes a change in the reader's perspective. As restricted access to images prioritizes context over immediacy, the audience is confronted with their own participation in visual culture and image consumption.