Sheron Rupp
Taken From Memory
Essay by Peter Galassi
Designed by Kehrer Design (Anja Aronska)
Published 2019
Hardcover
108 pages
75 color and 2 b/w ills.
ISBN 978-3-86828-892-6

Taken From Memory is the result of a 25-year long-time project by American photographer Sheron Rupp. Personal in nature, these photographs offer a stirring glimpse into the life in the commonly disregarded rural areas and small towns between the bustling metropolises of the East and West Coasts.

Taken from Memory awarded first place in the ‘photo books’ category
by Photo District News (PDN) - 2019

“Rupp’s images extend from the early eighties to 2008. Though one might not know this by looking and in truth is not important, with the notable exception that it shows Rupp’s remarkable consistency. These images rival, in color sense, corporeality and transitory moments, the staged images of our generation. The amazing fact here is Rupp finds this naturally, in the world, without intervention other than finding a way of relating in order to keep photographing. These images have emerged again, remaining unchallenged by any photography of their kind in the intervening years. They occupy a place, not removed or objective and also are not sentiment or commentary. They are, it seems, real.”
- Terri Weifenbach, Photo Books 2019, PhotoBookStore Magazine

“She has made it clear in brief statements that her work arises from deep feeling that reaches back to her childhood. And, though her pictures are vivid glimpses of an ever-immediate present, she has titled her book “Taken from Memory.” The reserve of these disclosures dovetails with the tact of these beautiful photographs. They don’t assert or judge. They promise the reward of connection.”
- from the Introduction by Peter Galassi

“Growing up in rural Ohio shaped the photography of Sheron Rupp (b. 1943, United States), whose long-term project “Taken From Memory” looks at often neglected small American towns. . . .  By documenting locals in their front yards – strangers to her – Rupp has nonetheless created a very personal body of work. Each photograph can be regarded as a self-portrait, the result of Rupp’s quest to find her own place in this world. The project also serves as a chronicle of a part of the United States where time has stood still; even though some images were taken 25 years apart, it’s hard to see the difference in date.”     
- GUP Magazine, February 25, 2019

“Publishing this book today is an important act of exposing the presence and lives of invisible people. It asserts that photography can incorporate tenderness in portraying the other as ourselves. For Rupp, the subjects are the other, herself and her family at the same time. The photographs are beautifully conceived and have a positive glow, a sense of optimism, not easy to find in today’s documentary photography.”
-Ahorn Archive 01 “Reading is a Political Act” 2019, by Anya Jasbar