CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/22/2024

Michael Stipe's poetic new photobook

"Portrait, South of France" is from Michael Stipe’s fourth and most recent photobook, Even the birds gave pause, collecting the artist and R.E.M. frontman’s poetic, sometimes enigmatic portraiture in unconventional media. Yes, celebrities show up—Michèle Lamy, Bono, Christy Turlington—because Stipe is documenting his world. But in reality, you’re seeing treasured friends and loved ones portrayed, somehow, at their most themselves. And that is an interesting thing to study.