Much of the work I document concerns my creative choices surrounding my body of work and how these works fit into an exhibition. I recognise that this simplifies what went on in the process of designing my final major project and how potential choices of a book, zine or newspaper fitted into my project. An important piece of peer feedback from Barry Rourke and later on echoed by Giorgio Colanna concerned using books to show my work rather than an exhibition. The thought process behind this was that the pace of a book, of looking at an individual page of text or an image then turning the page, was a good way to approach my subject and to allow my audience time and provide a way to separate works. I had produced some photo books in the past using self-design books passed to printers but was far from satisfied with the final product. I started to investigate photo books, looking at the work of a previous student, Helen Rosemier, who devoted lots of her energies to creating a very fine self-published book. I started to look at the production of a book. In this, I was interested in the technicalities around this choice as well as how my final project might look and feel if I were to present my work as a book or as an exhibition, perhaps with some kind of zine or newspaper which my audience could hold and look at away from the gallery. Helen’s work represented an extreme, in my opinion, as regards the time and expense she devoted to this part of her project. Her crowd funding for this work reached over £10,000 before she was finished with this project. Her extensive work considering the choices of paper, text, picture layout, blank pages, cover design, materials and the decisions around self-publishing and funding these choices had to be balanced against the option of passing on some of the responsibility for the design of the book and with it, some of the creative choices, to an established print firm. Her final work is very beautiful and poignant, but this didn’t immediately point me in the direction of producing a coffee table book for my own body of work. At some level, I was daunted by the time Helen put into this element of her final project, but more than that, I questioned whether a book was the right creative choice for showing my work.

Some posts relating to Helen’s book, including the funding for this work and a review of the book are shown below:

https://helenrosemier.wordpress.com/2023/10/01/understanding-photobooks-jorg-colberg

https://helenrosemier.wordpress.com/2023/10/21/photobooks-more-research

https://www.thehippyhippo.co.uk/2024/04/12/book-review-zones-of-possibility-helen-rosemier/

https://crowdfundr.com/zones-of-possibility?ref=ab_0Kl63TbZkVp0Kl63TbZkVp

I looked at a series of books of different styles and quality.

Firstly, a small book I found during my artist’s residency called “Silence is Forever”, made in 1990 by Bébert and showing the work of three artists, Jürgen Albrecht, Fred Eerdekens and Klaus Dieter Zimmer. The book is in Dutch and comes from a printer in Rotterdam. It measures 15.5cmx11cm and contains 25 pages, not including blank pages at the beginning and the end. The book contains eight images and eight pages of words. It is hand-stitched and is part of a limited edition of 450 books. The second of my images below shows the hand stitching and the know it the thread. I love how this book feels so comfortable in my hand with the simple choices of the binding, slipcover, text and graphics. It felt that this was very much a simple work which I could attempt although perhaps appearances can be deceptive. I note that the images in the book are monochrome and was concerned that my work, some of which is in colour, would jar with the simplicity of such a book.

I next looked at a book produced by fellow student Mirjam Lorek. This is a lay flat, colour photobook containing 20 stiff backed pages with 18 images or 19 if I include the cover. It measures 15cm x10cm, so it is very similar in size to the Bébert book. It is, however, a world away in terms of the emotional impact of the presentation of the artwork and the words. In many ways this reminds me of photobooks I made myself at an earlier part of my photography degree but with a far superior content. I enjoy the content of Mirjam’s book, and her work is very moving, yet for some reason, the book itself leaves me emotionally cold and dissatisfied. There is something too professional maybe. Perhaps too glossy and stiff.The content and the presentation seem to conflict with one another.

Still looking for inspiration, I was given a zine by John Burns titled “Clare with the Pig.” This measures 21cm x 15cm, so it is larger than the other 2. It doesn’t feel in any way cramped and includes blank pages The zine contains 30 images and one page of text spread over 45 pages. John tells me that this zine was printed at Mixam using an inkjet printer. The zine is held together using staples. The book is very fine and presents an expression of the pathos of his mother’s life seen through the house she lived in before moving to a care home. I think the zine is very successful. I wonder, however, at the number of images. My final project for my exhibition contains just eight images, a video work and an installation. How would I expand on this offering to fill such a book, and in so doing, might this dilute my narrative and the force behind my story?

I looked at a series of paper and digital samples of newspapers from the Glasgow Newspaper Club. I like the look and feel of the digital tabloid in 80gsm bright recycled paper.  To me, with a few images and some words, the newspaper provides me with the best option of accompanying my exhibition.

Lastly, I ordered a copy of Helen Rosemier’s book. The quality of this work shines through as does the effort spent in the construction of such a work. It is truly a work of art. The emotional impact in the high quality photographs and their presentation is haunting and powerful.

As I write this, my opinion today is that John’s zine and the small book by Bébert have a similar impact.

Conclusion. I admit that the effort and cost of making a photobook frightens me, but more than that, I wonder if this is the best way to present my final project. I read Anna Sellen’s padlet in the Graduate Case Study section of the coursework. She placed a very relevant quote regarding an exhibition and, by inference, the choice of the production of a photobook

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that exhibiting work is important, however, the steps leading to exhibiting work – including but not limited to editing, sizing, printing, editioning, pricing, transporting, framing, hanging – are all important for your professional practice.” (Michael Dooney, 2021)

There is an important difference between an exhibition and a book. An exhibition, put onto the walls of a gallery for a few weeks and then taken back down, has a temporality and lack of permanence, which seems to resonate with the story behind my work and with life itself being temporary and ending in death. A high-quality photobook has none of this and is solid and permanent. Having said this, I do feel that some kind of memento of my project is suitable and appropriate. I think of a friend’s recent funeral and the order of service with photographs and words celebrating his life.

Some kind of permanent reminder that my exhibition was real and took place but is now no more. This idea seems similar to that of life. In my examples, the three I am most drawn to are the magazine and the zines by Bébert and John Burns.

Although I have rejected the production of a photobook preferring an exhibition, in addition to my choice as regards the exhibition, there are other printed materials which I think sit well alongside the exhibition and will compliment my work.

I show below some test pieces which I have been working on which will form the front page of my newspaper and also act as a poster for my exhibition. Some of these use images directly from my exhibition, in some I started to experiment with my exhibition title. I took a print and set fire to it and then layered some ash with my picture. I then photographed the ash left behind after my experiment and used this in some of my poster/newspapers trials.