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I Regret I Am Able to Attend: A Life Among Artists
Not yet published
Expected 10 Nov 26A bawdy, gimlet-eyed memoir-in-stories capturing a celebrated photographer’s avant-garde coming-of-age in the grit and glamour of 1970s and 80s bohemia
I think in stories; I tell stories, and here are some stories. You may stumble across a narrative arc of some kind, but I’ll be damned if you detect any redemption.
Born to two young, ambitious artists, Jessica Craig-Martin grew up picnicking on oranges from Harrods with David Hockney and reading books on Jasper Johns’s studio ladder to get a moment alone from the crowd. When her parents separated, her life was divided between New York and London, where she navigated the tumultuous relationships, finances, and emotions of her parents and the cross-Atlantic cultural divide.
Largely unsupervised and searching for her place in the world, Craig-Martin tried on many a latchkey kid trying to make sense of her mother’s volatile mood swings and her father’s new relationships; a precocious, hash-smoking student experiencing her first love at a posh boarding school; a punk Dean & DeLuca cashier in Soho selling smoked eel to Jean-Michel Basquiat. She worked as a fashion assistant at British Vogue and assistant to the Features editor at Vanity Fair before becoming an event photographer for the same publications and others, the camera now in her hands.
Wildly witty and observant, I Regret I Am Able to Attend is what Dorothy Parker might have written if she had been a waitress sneaking sips of champagne at Indochine. With a photographer’s keen eye and a bon vivant’s flair, Craig-Martin offers an insider’s perspective into an unforgettable world of fame, excess, and creativity.
I think in stories; I tell stories, and here are some stories. You may stumble across a narrative arc of some kind, but I’ll be damned if you detect any redemption.
Born to two young, ambitious artists, Jessica Craig-Martin grew up picnicking on oranges from Harrods with David Hockney and reading books on Jasper Johns’s studio ladder to get a moment alone from the crowd. When her parents separated, her life was divided between New York and London, where she navigated the tumultuous relationships, finances, and emotions of her parents and the cross-Atlantic cultural divide.
Largely unsupervised and searching for her place in the world, Craig-Martin tried on many a latchkey kid trying to make sense of her mother’s volatile mood swings and her father’s new relationships; a precocious, hash-smoking student experiencing her first love at a posh boarding school; a punk Dean & DeLuca cashier in Soho selling smoked eel to Jean-Michel Basquiat. She worked as a fashion assistant at British Vogue and assistant to the Features editor at Vanity Fair before becoming an event photographer for the same publications and others, the camera now in her hands.
Wildly witty and observant, I Regret I Am Able to Attend is what Dorothy Parker might have written if she had been a waitress sneaking sips of champagne at Indochine. With a photographer’s keen eye and a bon vivant’s flair, Craig-Martin offers an insider’s perspective into an unforgettable world of fame, excess, and creativity.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication November 10, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 28, 2026
You ever have a memoir actually make you dislike someone after reading it? I Regret I Am Able to Attend is a memoir by the photographer Jessica Craig-Martin, someone who I thought created interesting, subversive photographs of Hollywood and other upper echelon parties. I had thought her photographs highlighted the shallowness and the grotesqueries of these events. After reading her memoir, I don't think that's the case. These are her people. She's not cutting their heads off in the photos to actually say anything, it's to make the viewer focus on the composition (or clothes) more.
Craig-Martin is the daughter of the conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin and past artist and now NYC real estate agent Jan Hashey. The beginning of the memoir details Craig-Martin's childhood with her wildly incompetent parents and offers an especially brutal portrayal of her mother. Craig-Martin is part of a group of children of artists and as they get older, they all get shallower and shallower. She lives between NYC and London, and each side of the pond is full of people just as awful.
The book is interesting and captivating in a way as it is hard to imagine being like these kids/young adults. They basically party, blow all their money on drugs and expensive food, and feel immense ennui if they're the slightest bit tied down to things like employment and college. Craig-Martin recounts over and over being a complete fuck-up at her job (and knowing it) and lamenting that she needs to see the world! She needs to make art (not because she actually wants to, but because that's the only thing her parents and compatriots respond to)!
It's also amazing to see how opportunities are just thrown into the laps of people like this. She gets offered jobs at Vogue and Vanity Fair and placements at colleges, just because of who she is (aka who her dad is and who her friends are). It's also a reminder of how absolutely insufferable the art world is. It's a cesspool of egotism fed on by the wealthy and offers literally nothing of value to the world. And I'm saying this as an artist who values art. There is a wide gulf between art and the art world.
For the writing of the book itself, Craig-Martin's writing is serviceable, but I wouldn't call it good. She leaves out details and context quite frequently and refers back to individuals by first name that the reader is somehow expected to remember. This is also the memoir with the most name dropping that I have ever seen. I understand that a big draw of this book is to hear about famous artists and Craig-Martin's experiences of them, but far too often it's just her cataloguing that she saw or interacted briefly with [insert artist or celebrity here]. Her timeline also annoyingly jumps around, confusing the sequence of events.
Even with all of that said, I still gave it 3 stars because I do think it's illustrative of the "fail sons" (and daughters) of artists and celebrities. It's easy to read and rather short as well. Don't go into it thinking that you'll find any depth whatsoever here, it's as shallow as a raindrop.
Craig-Martin is the daughter of the conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin and past artist and now NYC real estate agent Jan Hashey. The beginning of the memoir details Craig-Martin's childhood with her wildly incompetent parents and offers an especially brutal portrayal of her mother. Craig-Martin is part of a group of children of artists and as they get older, they all get shallower and shallower. She lives between NYC and London, and each side of the pond is full of people just as awful.
The book is interesting and captivating in a way as it is hard to imagine being like these kids/young adults. They basically party, blow all their money on drugs and expensive food, and feel immense ennui if they're the slightest bit tied down to things like employment and college. Craig-Martin recounts over and over being a complete fuck-up at her job (and knowing it) and lamenting that she needs to see the world! She needs to make art (not because she actually wants to, but because that's the only thing her parents and compatriots respond to)!
It's also amazing to see how opportunities are just thrown into the laps of people like this. She gets offered jobs at Vogue and Vanity Fair and placements at colleges, just because of who she is (aka who her dad is and who her friends are). It's also a reminder of how absolutely insufferable the art world is. It's a cesspool of egotism fed on by the wealthy and offers literally nothing of value to the world. And I'm saying this as an artist who values art. There is a wide gulf between art and the art world.
For the writing of the book itself, Craig-Martin's writing is serviceable, but I wouldn't call it good. She leaves out details and context quite frequently and refers back to individuals by first name that the reader is somehow expected to remember. This is also the memoir with the most name dropping that I have ever seen. I understand that a big draw of this book is to hear about famous artists and Craig-Martin's experiences of them, but far too often it's just her cataloguing that she saw or interacted briefly with [insert artist or celebrity here]. Her timeline also annoyingly jumps around, confusing the sequence of events.
Even with all of that said, I still gave it 3 stars because I do think it's illustrative of the "fail sons" (and daughters) of artists and celebrities. It's easy to read and rather short as well. Don't go into it thinking that you'll find any depth whatsoever here, it's as shallow as a raindrop.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I Regret I Am Able to Attend is a really fun (and educational) memoir but Jessica Craig-Martin, a well known fashion photographer. But if you ask her, it's not a memoir!
The book tells the story of Jessica's life, how her artist father met and fell in love with her mother, how the family unit thrived together and how her father's coming out affected her life. I hadn't heard of Craig-Martin or her father before reading the book so it was all new to me, but I have heard of many of the artists she writes about spending time with as she grew. The book was well-written with interesting stories that kept me hooked, despite going into it blind. Lovers of art and culture, especially London in the 70s and 80s will love these stories. I liked how it felt like Craig-Martin was just simply telling me a conversation, the language was easy to understand and I also appreciated the book being broken down into time periods. It was easy to follow the storyline.
I wish the book had photographs, maybe it will in print (I read an advanced copy) But I would love to see childhood photos, some of the works of art and whatever artifacts that could help add to the story, especially because Craig-Martin is so well known for her photographs.
Overall this was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in art and photography, or just a great memoir.
The book tells the story of Jessica's life, how her artist father met and fell in love with her mother, how the family unit thrived together and how her father's coming out affected her life. I hadn't heard of Craig-Martin or her father before reading the book so it was all new to me, but I have heard of many of the artists she writes about spending time with as she grew. The book was well-written with interesting stories that kept me hooked, despite going into it blind. Lovers of art and culture, especially London in the 70s and 80s will love these stories. I liked how it felt like Craig-Martin was just simply telling me a conversation, the language was easy to understand and I also appreciated the book being broken down into time periods. It was easy to follow the storyline.
I wish the book had photographs, maybe it will in print (I read an advanced copy) But I would love to see childhood photos, some of the works of art and whatever artifacts that could help add to the story, especially because Craig-Martin is so well known for her photographs.
Overall this was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in art and photography, or just a great memoir.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews