Ghost Image

Herve Guibert (1955-1991) may be France's best known author of AIDS narratives. This very personal rumination on photography in partly a response to Barthes s "Camera Lucida," the most widely taught literary/theoretical text on photography. Guibert combines accounts of his artistic process with memoir, revealing his particular experience and vision of the world. In 63 short meditations and stories, he tries to express what he would have caught in photographs he tried to take but missed through some technical mistake.Guibert explains how he sets up compositions for photographs.He searches through a box of old family snapshots for insights into his relationship with his parents and other relatives.He describes photography as an act of possession, frustration, and exploration. "

Hervé Guibert (1955-91) was born and worked in Paris. A noted photographer, he also contributed articles on culture to the French newspaper Le Monde and wrote works of fiction and books on photography.