20 years after receiving the W. Eugene Smith Grant award, “Uncle Charlie” long-term documentary project is now a book published by Contrasto.
Uncle Charlie is the culmination of more than thirty years of work by photographer Marc Asnin.
For those who have seen snippets of ” Uncle Charlie” project in magazines ranging from Mother Jones to D Magazine and Life, the story will be familiar. By the early 1980s when Asnin was studying photography, the reality of his uncle’s life had trampled his boyhood fantasy. As a child Asnin was motivated by his admiration of Uncle Charlie as a big, streetwise strong guy with a gun. Charlie and his five children (Charles, Joe, Brian, Mary, and Jamie) lived together in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Frail, depressed and emotionally vacant, unable to work, unable to even leave his apartment, Charles Henschke became the shell of a human being.
Uncle Charlie is an extraordinary visual and written diary that details the life of his godfather, Charlie, and his struggles with mental illness, isolation, poverty and family relationships. The book features a layout that includes a visual treatment of long text and archival documents, including police arrest records, psychiatrist’s reports, old 1950s color snapshots, and more.
Asnin chose to use photography as the means to reconnect with Charles Henschke, an extremely complex individual. The result is a journey that became almost an obsession to confront, examine, and understand some very disturbing truths about his uncle and family. The book is an exceptional object with a strong lay out that includes a visual treatment of the long text and the documents concerning the life of Charlie, ( as told by himself during many hours of recorded conversations with Marc Asnin, co-edited by Marc Asnin. This book is a great effort to mix documentary photography and literature. ”It’s my dance with my godfather.” Marc Asnin
There are few portraits in recent American photography more intimate or remarkable than Marc Asnin’s Uncle Charlie series.
Michael Kimmelman The New York Times
Marc Asnin Book Signings:
Paris Photo, November 15, 6pm Contrasto Booth F28
ICP Store NY, December 14, 6pm
Exhibition :
Steven Kasher Gallery
November 8- December 22, 2012
521 West 23rd St #2R
New York, NY 10011,
USA
