- polycopies &co
THE ERISKAY CONNECTION
'Hernie & Plume' - Katherine Longly (BE)
It is well known that photo books can bring worlds together. That those worlds are sometimes closer than we think Katherine Longly shows beautifully. At a campsite on the outskirts of Brussels, she found a couple she became friends with.
With this book Longly plays with the prejudices that we all tend to have, no matter how much we try to avoid them. The photographer builds her story calmly but purposefully and then reveals the true history of the protagonist. As a reader we are being misled and thus confronted with our own short-sightedness. Longly does this with extremely sincere and entertaining images of this partying couple, which yields a pleasant book and a wise lesson.
The strength of this book is the fact that it combines humour and lightheartedness with an emotional story. In everything it is clear how sincerely this is made, one of the most beautiful qualities a photographer can have.
The raw, folksy nature of the main characters of the story is also reflected in the materials and techniques used, from the oil-cloth cover and silver inks to the silver and nicotine-yellow paper. A story and product of love.
For more information:
https://www.eriskayconnection.com/home/99-hernie-plume.html
20% discount during the fair – code: POLYCOVID2020
'Horse' - Heleen Peeters (BE)
We wanted to show this book for the first time during Polycopies 2020. A book that we have worked on with great pleasure because of the richness of the images and the many layers it contains.
This book offers a glimpse into the equine (meat) culture in different countries around the world. Heleen Peeters comes from a family of horse meat traders, a trade that is slowly dying out. That was the reason to start this project. While her childhood friends played with My Little Pony’s, she walked around slaughterhouses with her father. An exciting contrast!
The book takes the reader from breeders and competitions to slaughterhouses, factories and butchers. Peeters not only shows us the beauty of the noble animal, but also the direct images of slaughter and processing. She does this without being outspoken pro or against eating horse meat, but the book nevertheless gives rise to reflection on our meat consumption. In fact, horses are a sustainable free-range product, but the culture around this animal ultimately prevents us from eating it. The book contains images of some of the last existing Horse butchers in France.
It is these types of books that make it so much fun to be a book designer and publisher. This project offers a special insight into a world that normally remains hidden and for which photography is a great medium. Besides her own strong photography Heleen found many interesting historical images that is used throughout the book.
One unique detail of the design is the cover wrap, organically shaped like a horse skin, covering the naked book.
For more information:
https://www.eriskayconnection.com/home/100-horse.html
20% discount during the fair – code: POLYCOVID2020
'To Pick Up A Stone' - Claudia den Boer (NL)
This book would also be one of the new titles we wanted to show on the Polycopies boat. It is the second book we publish by Claudia den Boer, a Dutch photographer who is fascinated by the concept of “place”. In her first book (Anchors), she sought silence in different deserts around the world. Her second book is about the mountain and the stone, and even more about how the two relate to each other.
The book consists of an eclectic collection of images of stones, rocks and mountains. Den Boer not only experimented with light, scale and perspective, but also zoomed in extremely on her medium format negatives. The eclectic nature of the work is enhanced by the 4 different papers, which are ingeniously bound, half pages that cover or reveal images and the transparency and tactility of the paper. This book was a joy to make and to see come to life on the printing press. A wonderful symbiosis has developed between designer and artist. How wonderful this profession can be, long live print!
For more information:
https://www.eriskayconnection.com/home/98-to-pick-up-a-stone.html
20% discount during the fair – code: POLYCOVID2020
