Jap Sam Books
| Felwa, faded, pale yellow, similar to the colour of the earth.
| With a beautiful design by Mainstudio.
The photo-book Felwa is a chronicle of transitions that explore an essential paradox of nature, namely that change is the only constant. Structured like ripples in a pool, the book begins with references to the past examining our ancient emotional relationship with the world in terms of mythology and belief and ends with the scientific data based view we have today. Within these parameters we explore relationships to place ranging from the 10,000 years of human habitation to one summer during which everything changed
The book contains an analogue photographic record in sections where a specific environment such as the farmyard in relation to a human life, the grassland in a re-wilding process from agricultural land to nature reserve, the brook as a primal vein, the forest where old stories still wander, the burial mounds that refer to millennia of human activity and the age-old habitat of vegetation. come together in image and language.
As a leitmotif throughout the publication are extracted plant dyes, or Florachromes, and their names, taken from plants growing in relevant locations linking the different time zones.
My Mom Wants to Go Back Home is a documentary diary by photographer Hanna Hrabarska. Together with her mother Iryna, she fled the war in Ukraine, to find a temporary home in the Netherlands.
'This book is a journey. In the beginning it runs across borders, countries and cities. Later it extends inwards, into a landscape of our thoughts, feelings and emotions'.
Through the lens Hrabarska, Hanna captures the story of her mother forced to leave their country in the face of war. Beautifully designed by Mainstudio (Edwin van Gelder)
After being showcased in numerous galleries and museums around the world, this quiet and intimate personal story of becoming a war refugee now will reach even a bigger audience in a shape of a photo book.
Hanna Hrabarska and her mother Iryna travelled through Uzhgorod, Mali Selmentsi, Kosice, Budapest, and Munich before arriving in the Netherlands, where they started their new lives as war refugees. Since the very beginning of their journey, Hanna has been taking photos of her mother. Hanna described everything seemed so surreal that she wanted to capture all their moments on the road as proof they where actually happening. The process of taking photos also served as a distraction and gave Hanna a sense of control, among the chaos and uncertainty, there was now something she could be sure about, her photos.
Hanna Hrabarska (1986) is a Ukrainian photographer, visual artist, and photojournalist. She holds a Master of Arts in Journalism from the National University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv (2010). Before the war in Ukraine, she ran a small portrait studio in Kyiv. Over the last decade she has established herself as a freelance photographer, photojournalist, and documentary artist — with both commissioned and autonomous work. The artist has been teaching photography courses at the online art & photography school SKVOT, a Ukrainian creative hub based in Kyiv. Hrabarska’s work has been published in numerous media outlets and exhibited in Europe and USA. Her photographs have been part of the group show This is Ukraine; Defending Freedom at 2022 Venice Biennale.
| Including 99 astral drawings
| including an extra foldout insert Amanda Gorman Astraal 2024, 41.5 x 56.5 cm, de Volkskrant, 22 januari 2021, offset drukkerij robstolk
l All copies are signed by the artist
A poignant news photograph, a striking headline or a major international event: for more than forty years Kees de Goede (1954) has been responding very tangibly to the news. For his series of Astral drawings he uses newspapers as subject matter and as the image support. He paints, draws, applies gold leaf to the pages or manipulates the paper. The works express a great curiosity about and involvement with the world. Recurrent themes include space, science, faith, violence, racism and geopolitics. The series tells the story of the artist – and how he relates to a rapidly changing world during the years surrounding the millenium transition.
De Goede’s work is part of numerous prominent public and private collections around the world. This book was published simultaneously with an exhibition of sixty-five Astral drawings at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.