To tell my real intentions, I want to eat only haze like a hermit.
2015 - 2018
Artist edition sold out
A book questioning the relationship with food and the body
in the specific context of Japanese society:
mixes testimonies, photographs, illustrations, archive pictures.
Handmade and self-published book.
Eating is never just a technical act.
A source of pleasure or a control tool over one's body, a way to connect with people or solitary delight, uninhibited or generating anxiety, our relationship with food can take different faces. It is intimately connected to our emotions, and acts as a subtle revealer of our social and family history. But where does it lay its foundations?
Katherine Longly was overweight when she was a child. Between control and pleasure, her link with food is always occupied by the ghost of those childhood memories, which shape the image of oneself with force and persistence. She questioned these issues beyond her own experience, in the particular context of Japanese society, where the pressure held on people's bodies seems more intense than elsewhere.
During several residencies in the archipelago, the artist interviewed various people on the subject of their relationship with food and their bodies and recorded their stories. We can thus understand how Yuki sank into anorexia, little by little, to end up being only able to swallow liquids; how Ren managed to protect herself from the outside world thanks to her mother's bentos; how Kenichi reacted when he was categorized "metabo" after having his waistline measured by the municipality; how Mina managed to reconnect with a missing mother while cooking with her brothers; or how Rika has been able to hide his bulimia from everyone for more than twenty years.
Then Katherine asked these individuals to illustrate this relationship from their own point of view, using a disposable camera. This specific tool was chosen by design, because it doesn't allow any control over the final image, contrasting with the apparent perfection of images posted on social media. As a result, the pictures are filled with a certain kind of photographic freshness and lead to the possibility of being surprised by images of upsetting sincerity.
At the crossroads of art and anthropology, this book, made in close collaboration with all the interviewees, invites everyone to dig to discover where their relationship with food and their body is rooted.
SELECTIONS
* Selected for Futures talents' photo book exhibition, Tbilissi photo festival (GE)
* BUP (Blow Up Press) award finalist (PL)
* Finalist and exhibited book for Prix de la gravure et de l'image imprimée (BE)
* Skinnerboox book award finalist (IT)
* LUMA Rencontres dummy book award finalist (FR)
* Kassel dummy award finalist (DE)
* Selected for 'Belgian Photobook' exhibition at FoMu (BE)
* Exhibited at Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris (FR)
* Amongst winners of Belfast Photo Festival photobook award (IE)
* Shortlisted for FotoWien book award (AT)
* Shortlisted for Singapore International Photography Festival book dummy award (SG)
* Shortlisted for Felifa Prize International book dummy award (BR)
COLLECTIONS
* Three shadows photography art centre library, Xiamen (CN)
* Martin Parr's collection of photobooks at Tate Modern, London (GB)
* Gabriela Cendoya Bergareche's collection of photobooks, San Telmo Museum (ES)
* FoMu, FotoMuseum, Antwerp (BE)
* Photography Museum, Charleroi (BE)
* Bavarian State Library (manuscripts and rare books collection), Munich (DE)
* MUDAM (Musée d'art moderne Grand-Duc Jean) collection, Luxemburg (LU)
* The Jessica R. Gund Memorial Library, Cleveland institute of art (US)
* Self-publish, Be happy, London (GB)
* Biblioteca TURMA, Buenos Aires (AR)
* DECK library, Singapore (SG)
* Unveil'd collection (UK)
* Artists' book collection (C.L.A.), Brussels (BE)
* Galerie OstLicht library, Vienna (AT)
* FUAM dummy book library collection (TR)
* Rencontres d'Arles library at the National Photography School of Arles (FR)
PRESS
* Azusa Mizuno, WithNews (in Japanese)
* Jonathan Blaustein, APhotoEditor
* Sabrina Mandanici, Collector Daily
* Douglas Stockdale, The PhotoBook Journal
* Fabien Ribery, L'intervalle blog
* Gabriela Cendoya Bergareche, #6 on list of best 2018 photobooks
* Myriam Leroy, Entrez sans frapper, Belgian public radio
* Elodie Weymeels, La Libre Belgique
* Julie-Marie Duro, France Fine Art
* Michel Verlinden, Focus Vif
* Maho Isono, Japanese cultural anthropologist, on her blog.
* Carine Dolek, 9 lives magazine
Concept, edit and art-direction developed by Katherine Longly in the 2018 Atlas lab photobook making workshop by Alex Bocchetto and Yumi Goto, in collaboration with AKINA and Reminders Photography Stronghold.
With the support of Wallonie-Bruxelles International.
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