27. A picture I have been waiting to show
ROLL 531 | FRAME 29
Martha, Kyoto, September 2024.
There are some pictures that I have been sitting on for over a year.
On September 20th last year I found out MACK was going to publish a book of my work. From September to March I worked really hard to select, sequence, and lay out the book. I scanned so many new pictures and I also stopped sharing any pictures I was excited about, knowing that unveiling them for the book made the most sense.
Many pictures, like the one in this newsletter, have been patiently waiting for their day in the sun. I am so excited to finally share them with you.
I am so excited to tell you about Small Death, coming out in September. I have never worked as hard as I did for this book!
I have been photographing this work for a decade now, since moving from Mexico City to Brooklyn. There’s been lots that needed to happen for this book’s fruition.
Even though these pictures now span a decade, it wasn’t until 2020 that I first even thought of showing them. At the time of lock-down, my friend, artist and curator Verónica Puche invited me to show my work in an online exhibition. When we were talking about it she asked about the pictures in my diary and I gave her access to all my contact sheets. It was the first time ever I showed this work. I got the joy of sharing this so much that I started scanning and sending postcards of this work to friends, family, and strangers who gave me their address. These pictures were a personal family album, but once the sharing lid was open, I started thinking about the work in a more expensive way.
I realized all the stories that I was already telling and started sequencing the work, so I published two zines of the work one with my publishing company and another with Dashwood Books. At the time I didn’t feel like I could edit my own work so these are edited by Justine Kurland and David Strettell respectively. I have since edited a lot of books, both about with my work and other artists. I did edit Small Death myself, but I do not feel like I could have before seeing how other’s approach editing it.
In 2023 and 2024 I had two solo shows, The Stench of Orange Blossoms at Miriam Gallery, and Flowering Wound at Baxter Street. In each of these shows I learned different things about this work and how to show it. Two related aspects that are important to the book are that this work’s strength is in its maximalism and multiplicity, but also that the connections in between the pictures are as important as the images themselves.
Since my first meeting with Michael Mack, I had how the book was going to feel figured out: the binding, the weight, the dimensions, the number of pages. I think I have been thinking about this every time I have held a book at Dashwood Books or at the ICP library. In some ways I had been imagining this book even before I knew it would happen. The structure, sequencing, and layout took a bit more effort to tease out.
I went to film school and film language remains the first art language I learned, even now it really informs the way I work, especially when it comes to sequencing and editing books. Small Death is certainly edited like I would a film: particularly when it comes to juxtaposition, rhythm, and subject matter.
This book is really a self-portrait because in many ways this work is. As I started sequencing this book I realized that for this story to be told adequately, what made the most sense was to sequence smaller stories, or chapters, and then sequence those. These chapters are separated by white pages with a small self-portrait. These self-portraits are the only pictures in the book that happen chronologically. All the rest of the images are instead sequenced to promote connections and juxtapositions.
The layout of this book is what really made everything fall into place. I have been making small zines, which I call Contact Sheet Notes. The zines are 3 x 2 inches, and they fit in the palm of my hand. They are easy to print (two fit in one A4 piece of paper), and most importantly, I do not have to scan for them, I can simply use my already scanned contact sheets. I make them very quickly and sell them at my book fair tables. As I was hitting my head trying to find a visual language for this book, Justine Kurland pointed out that I had already developed one for these zines. It all made perfect sense! I had the answer in front of me all along.
Sequencing and editing took around two months of printing things and moving them around and making multiple PDFs that I would send for comments to Justine, to Michael, and to Morgan Crowcroft-Brown and Iman Hakimi at MACK.
Once everything was assembled and I was happy with it, the arduous and unglamorous work of scanning, color balancing, image editing, and spotting came. This book has 220 plates, most of them containing more than one image. This process took most of my time during the first months of the year.
I sent all files to Morgan, who designed the colophon and the cover. Morgan is very knowledgable about the physics of books and how the materials will behave. It was freeing to have her figure out how to engineer the book. She also designed the cover after just a few prompts for me, I almost cried when I saw it.
The book is now printed and tangible, making its way to ports in multiple cities. You can now order it from MACK directly. If you are not in the US or the UK, there will be multiple stores around the world that will carry it. I will be signing books at Dashwood Book September 16 (you can preorder for the event here), and at the MACK table at the NY Art Book Fair on Saturday September 13 at 2pm; and having a conversation during the ICP Photobook Fest on Saturday October 4 at 1:30pm. Signing in Mexico City coming soon. I’m excited to share this book with all of you!
Can't wait to buy it here in CDMX.