Publication Pass it On;
Private Stories,
Public Histories
Shortlisted for the Juror’s Special Mention: Catalogue as DIY Exhibition by APERTURE PHOTOBOOK AWARDS 2021.
See video: ︎
‘Pass It On. Private Stories, Public Histories’ is a follow up to the exhibition of the same name, which took place at FOTODOK in November 2020–February 2021. As the show largely happened during a lockdown, FOTODOK wanted to find alternative ways to open it up to our audience.
FORM
If you were unable to visit the show, it can now travel to you instead. ‘Pass It On’ is a collection of unbound materials. They are folded and brought together so that they can be “read” in a linear way, just like a book. But they can also be taken apart and placed on a wall, allowing you to enjoy a private exhibition at your own home or workspace. While deciding upon the publication’s form, we also considered the environment: a silkscreened box case is simultaneously the work’s cover and its mailing package.
ARTISTS
‘Pass It On’ presents five ongoing photographic projects that address family archives. ‘A Garden Revisioned’ is based on Inge Meijer’s unexpected discovery of hundreds of negatives from pre-wedding photoshoots at an abandoned wedding hall in Gwangju, South Korean. Lebohang Kganye’s ‘Ho thubeha ha lebone’ (A breakage of the light) is rooted in the artist’s research of her own family’s pictures and history in apartheid South Africa. ‘Operation Detachment’ by Marianne Ingleby deals with what she inherited from her grandfather—an archive of more than 500 images he made as a volunteer army photographer in Iwo Jima in 1945. Pablo Lerma initiated ‘It Doesn’t Stop at Images’ on the occasion of the show, and dove into the archives of IHLIA LGBTI Heritage, creating an alternative representation of a gay extended family. Finally, ‘When Summer Became Winter’ by Yara Jimmink, yet to be exhibited at Domplein, Utrecht, as an outdoor installation later in 2021, reflects on her grandparents’ documentation of their move from Indonesia to the Netherlands.
WRITERS
Although playfully designed, the publication includes thorough texts from a number of theorists and curators. Professor emeritus of Leiden University and the author of ‘Staging the Archive: Art and Photography in the Age of New Media’ Ernst van Alphen reflects on Meijer’s work. Curator of Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, Mariama Attah writes on Kganye’s. Hilary Roberts, Senior Curator of Photography at Imperial War Museums, United Kingdom, writes about Ingleby’s project. The Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Curator at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, Drew Sawyer looks into Lerma’s practice. And finally, Historian and Independent Curator Sadiah Boonstra deliberates on Jimmink’s series.
INFO
Publisher: FOTODOK & METEØRØ EDITIONS
Design: Kummer & Herrman
Printer: NPN Drukkers
ISBN: 9780997503845
Year: 2021
Edition: 500
Dimensions: 24 x 33 cm
Paper: Lessebo Smooth White 115, 150, 240 g
Printing: two-sided full colour
Binding: unbound
Language: English
Price: € 20
©2021