Photobook Workshop at the OBSCURA Festival 2015 in Malaysia
In August 2015, I had the great honour and pleasure to run a photobook workshop at the OBSCURA Festival in Georgetown, Malaysia.
It was my second workshop at this festival, but this time, I worked together with the amazing Indian journalist and writer Alisha Sett. The aim was to produce a printed dummy (including different materials, bindings and shapes) on the one side, with a strong editing and sequencing; and a strong text – and sometimes, only a sentence might be enough – on the other side.
It was an intense, intimate and wonderful time, combined with hard work and hustle – the last dummy was finished literally only seconds before the public presentation started.
Most of the series the photographers worked with can not be separated from the book design, and they work a lot better in book context, with the chosen paper and different image sizes. Here are some slideshows without this context.
Michael Foxington
The lights are on all night. The dogs roam in search of solace, trailing the scent of fear heavy on the wind, looking for shelter from this caustic light. I follow the dogs to see what they’ve found. But there is no shade in this darkness. In a string of nights the same, one blends into the other.
Jade Byrnes
Memory is malleable, dynamic and elusive. When we tap into our memories, where is the line between fact and fiction and how does our memory play tricks on us?
In my visit to Penang I came across a photo of what looked like a missing person posted on the wall. The image stayed with me as I continued to wander around the streets and I began seeing traces in places and things; it must be possible that someone out there is looking for this man, maybe a childhood friend, maybe a woman. I began to envisage a life lived and the details surrounding it.
Rochelle Hansen: Lacuna
A place to remember and forget,
what has been lost and what remains.
I have fond memories as a child, running on the beach at my grandparents house. Now, the beach has become more unknown. A place where thoughts beckon to me. Sitting on the grainy sand, the silence lures me into the hidden fractions of the subconscious. I dive into the water. I'm flushed. Instantly empty. In a limbo between nothing and the world.
