Questions without answers

Michals has produced a work that is full of contrasts, ranging from mysterious to obvious, from profound to vapid, from sad to funny, much like life itself. The “questions” of the title are (without the question marks): What is/are beauty, the universe, magic, trust, language, luck, happiness, pleasure, consciousness, the mystery of the Sphinx, dreams, memory, youth, old age, time, humor, grief, desire, love, music, God, life, death, nothing? and Who am I?. In the middle of these is a section on “the seven ages of man.” Each concept is explored with black & white photograph(s) and poetry. For example, for “grief” there is a series of six photos showing a man reading a letter, looking at a picture, and then holding his head in his hands, and the sentence “grief is the unconsolable melancholy of loss.” I do not feel that the photography is Michal’s best, and the poetry sometimes borders on bathetic. Nevertheless, I recommend this book as a strong example of one of the most original artists of our time.