A while back I wrote a couple of posts reflecting on how the world of independent photo books, as robust and productive as it currently is, is in danger of unleashing a torrent of orphans out into the world- soon to be forgotten, if ever heard of, or from again. Thankfully, there is a place that introduces them in the virtual world- but what was so sorely and obviously lacking was a refuge to actually appreciate and house them as the physical entities that inspired their very creation. Absent any known photographic organization to catalog, store and exhibit these photographic transients, along came Larissa Leclair who decided to set up shop and provide proper shelter and sustenance for these beloved photographic mongrels in Washington, DC.
The Indie Photobook Library will hopefully one day be given a more permanent and substantial home base by a more prominent and established photographic/academic/art institution. For now, Ms. Leclair continues to collect and regularly exhibit her ever expanding collection (both onsite and off w/guest curators). It certainly doesn't level the playing field with commercially published and distributed books, but it's a full step further in helping to acknowledge, legitimize and publicize their existence well into the future....
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