2001 Infinity Award: Writing

Eugenia Parry has written about artists and photographers for over 30 years. Crime Album Stories (Scalo, 2000), Parry’s most recent publication, is a departure. Based on a police album (Gèrard Lèvy Collection, Paris) of photographs documenting violent crimes in Paris around 1900, her book tells 25 compelling tales of murder and mayhem. Parry has commented about her work, “This album, evil and difficult, took a bite out of me—I bit back.” The stories are true, but the originality of the book lies in the inventiveness of Parry’s retelling. She creates first-person narratives, direct from the murderer’s mouths. Investigator Armand Cochefert and Alphonse Bertillon, inventor of the mug shot and crime-scene photography, respectively, become stranger personalities than the perpetrators they pursue. Parry’s “Dedication” to her father, a crime story in itself, allows readers access to what propelled her to undertake such a project.

Parry is also cited for two other writings in 2000, “999 Degrees of Will” in The Photography of Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O’Keefe’s Enduring Legacy (George Eastman House) and “The Great Pretender” in Modern Romance: David Levinthal (St. Ann’s Press), both of which contemplate the soulful contradictions in photographic creativity.