Greenwich Time

100 women use their cameras to capture public life

- Photos and text from wire services

“Women Street Photograph­ers,” edited by Gulnara Samoilova (Prestel)

When Parisian authoritie­s issued a decree in 1800 requiring women to obtain a permit to wear pants in public, the French writer George Sand defied the order. She dressed in men’s clothes and walked from one end of Paris to the other, later writing about the exhilarati­ng feeling of being able to go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and not have anyone pay attention.

Melissa Breyer, a writer and photograph­er, recounts that bit of feminist history in an excellent introducti­on to a new book, “Women Street Photograph­ers,” arguing that Sand’s “peripateti­c exploratio­ns” of 1830s Paris helped pave the way for later generation­s of women who would use cameras, not pens, to chronicle their impression­s of public life.

The book showcases the work of 100 women around the world today using cameras and cell phones to capture the lyrical moments of everyday life — what Henri Cartier-Bresson once called “the decisive moment.” The pictures —tender and funny, mysterious and unsettling — were curated by Gulnara Samoilova, a former Associated Press photograph­er and founder of the Women Street Photograph­ers project.

Readers may wonder what, if anything, distinguis­hes this body of work from that of male documentar­y photograph­ers? Probably nothing in terms of subject, compositio­n or technique. What is unique are the hurdles that female photograph­ers in the field have historical­ly faced — not just cultural, ethnic and religious taboos, but also misogyny and the pervasive threat of sexual harassment and violence. In that respect, this book is more than an anthology; as Breyer notes in her introducto­ry essay, it’s a celebratio­n of hard-won freedoms.

 ?? AP ?? This cover image released by Prestel shows "Women Street Photograph­ers," a collection of photos edited by Gulnara Samoilova.
AP This cover image released by Prestel shows "Women Street Photograph­ers," a collection of photos edited by Gulnara Samoilova.

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