Building for Change: The Architecture of Creative Reuse

"And to what extent is the consumer mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle” infiltrating the mindset of those responsible for our built environment? Building for Change , edited by Dr. Ruth Lang, resents an optimistic survey, including waste repurposed as building material, the latest in modular design and spatial innovation in a beautifully illustrated argument for the virtues of working with what we’ve got. Constraints are creativity, and these can include not merely the history of a place but its very fabric, its blemishes and beauty marks. The powerful argument made here—with ample visual evidence, is that there is simply no excuse for demolition. Photographers are the scribes that record and relate what might otherwise escape our fleeting, distracted glances. Here’s a selection of photography books published in 2022 that are keepers: “Free as they want to be”: Artists Committed to Memory , edited by Cheryl Finley and Deborah Willis, considers photography’s role in tracing the legacy of slavery and its aftermath in Black America. Inspired by the words of James Baldwin , this collection of work by twenty photographers and others working in video, silkscreen, projection and mixed-media asks: What is freedom? What does it mean for you? Equal parts documentation and exploration, this eloquent journey in the struggle for racial justice and equality celebrates endurance and empowerment."