Within the Grand Palais, Paris Photo gives pride of place to publishing houses which unveil for the occasion their most beautiful Books and their latest releases. From the never-before-seen photos of Yorgos Lanthimos to the committed project of Carmen Winant, including the intimate story of Diana Markosian: Number reveals its selection.
Art books from RVB Books
A “visual Tinder”: this is how Mazaccio et Drowilal describe their new project with RVB Books. Composing with a large bank of images amassed by them over recent years, the artists have shaped their work Iconology like so many aesthetic and formal encounters between clichés, ignoring chronological links. Flemish masters, photographs of pop culture icons, computer glitches… In the form of twelve small thick posters on which the images are pasted, augmented on the edges with paint strokes and drawings, the book (offered in twenty copies) is only connected by a few straps, deconstructing as you read – and allowing some of its pages to be transformed into small works of art in their own right.
“Iconology” by Mazaccio and Drowilal, editions RVB Books.
Unpublished photos of Yorgos Lanthimos
If we know Yorgos Lanthimos especially for his several Oscar-winning films, The Favorite has Poor Creaturesthe filmmaker today reveals a new facet: that of photographer. In a book published by the London house Mack Books, he compiles several dozen previously unpublished photos captured on the set of his latest feature film. Kinds of Kindness (2024). From New Orleans to the reconstructed settings, faces and deserted landscapes come together page after page, in a black and white monochrome reminiscent of the fantasized and dreamlike aesthetic of his productions.
“i shall sing these songs beautifully” de Yorgos Lanthimos, éditions Mack Books.
The poignant and committed project of Carmen Winant
Selected among ten finalists for the Photo book of the year awarded by Paris Photo at the end of the fair, Carmen Winant stands out for its committed and exciting project. Published last spring, his work The Last Safe Abortion focuses in the United States on the period from 1973 to 2022, during which abortion was still a legal right in all states on the continent, before the Supreme Court overturned the federal ruling Roe vs. Wade (which then guaranteed this right throughout the territory). Compiling archive images, news photos and documentary photographs drawn from personal, institutional and associative funds, the artist paints a striking portrait of women campaigning for their rights through the decades – all the more necessary at the end of the last American presidential elections.
The Last Safe Abortion de Carmen Winant, SPBH Editions.
Father by Diana Markosian: a moving quest for identity and family
While she was still just a child, Diana Markosian leaves Moscow with his mother and brother to move to California, fleeing their father without a trace. In 2014, eighteen years later, the artist embarked on a long journey of reconstruction, in search of his father figure, and managed after a long journey to find him in Armenia. An intimate and difficult quest carried out over nearly ten years, which she retraces today in a work entitled Father. Documentary photographs, written memories, letters… She explores the themes of absence then reconciliation, discovering little by little that her father had been searching for them for a long time (excerpts from newspapers with search notices attest to this in her pages) , and tries, through this project, to find his own identity.
Father, Diana Markosian, Aperture editions (Atelier EXB stand at Paris Photo).
Kyoichi Tsuzuki takes us into the intimacy of Tokyoites
In the 90s, Kyoichi Tsuzuki infiltrates the apartments of strangers Tokyowho generously open the doors of their interior to him. Armed with his camera, the Japanese photographer captures their intimacy, emptied of human presence: messy living rooms, kitchen full of dishes and crockery, filled cupboards… his photos immerse us in the way of life and consumption of Tokyoites in era. Thirty years later, the editions Apartment are reissuing this work, augmented by the artist's observations thanks to his notes from the time, shaping a fascinating journey through time, which contrasts with our new domestic habits.
Tokyo Style de Kyoichi Tsuzuki, editions Apartamento.
The Louis Vuitton pop-up bookstore at Paris Photo
Recently present at Art Basel Paris, Louis Vuitton also invests Paris Photo with an imposing ephemeral bookstore. The house brings together all of its collections of photographic works (Travel Books, City Guide et Fashion Eye) and its most beautiful editions, from its emblematic travel guides in big cities to the series produced in sublime regions of the world by big names in photography – Martin Parr, Patrick Bienert, Alasdair McClellan, Jackie Nickerson, all present in turn role at the fair, during exclusive dedications.
Paris Photofrom November 7 to 10, 2024 at the Grand Palais, Paris 8th.
