The Photography of John Brill

Essay by Leah Ollman

Over the course of his career, Brill has produced several thematically coherent, discrete bodies of work, including Family Holiday Album, Engrams, Ennui, Reliquary, Cosmophilia, Bad Memory, Accidental Diary, and Family Portraits. His work is the subject of a monograph published in 2002, The Photography of John Brill, with text by the critic Leah Ollman. Writing in a spirit that reflects the spirit of the photographs, Ollman begins the book with the following meditation:

"Believe everything you’ve heard about those two, photography and time. The rumors, the theories, even the lies—they’re all true. Shameless seducers, both of them. Their cunning liaison ensnares us all, compelling us to remember, betraying us into forgetting."

– Leah Ollman