Doug Dubois: All the Days and Nights (Aperture, 2009).
Doug DuBois: All the Days and Nights (Aperture, 2009) illuminates what it means to be a memoirist through the eyes of a photographer and the repercussions of such a daunting task. In 1984, when Doug Dubois’ father almost died from falling from a commuter train, the photographer assumed the role of his family’s documenter, and this book shows 62 photographs taken over the following 25 years. The photographs leave you asking for more and for explanations of the moments that comprised all the days and nights of this family’s tragic and haunting tale of depression and perseverance. The photographs document the fear, pain, sadness, and hope of these 25 years and of the hardships faced as result of Dubois’ father’s accident, and together, they create a narrative that is shockingly personal.
Each photograph is a snapshot of Dubois’ perspective throughout the ordeal. He is omnipresent but never seen. This creates an interesting dynamic; despite his personal relationship with his work, his photographs are brutally honest. After Dinner depicts his mother and father sitting at the dining table. His mother’s eyes are tired and overwhelmingly sad; his father seems alienated and detached. In the afterword, Dubois writes about a certain sense of guilt that he has looking back on this picture. This paradox of the photographer’s obligation to honestly document yet remain separate from the subject matter is a theme that runs throughout Dubois’ work, and ultimately, forces us to question the role of the photographer in relation to his work.
