Elysa/whathowwhy

SEPTEMBER 25 2019

DICHT BIJ MIJ VANDAAN

It’s a photobook, A5 size, 45 pages. The cover is black, and the pages inside are also sometimes black, but mostly white. On the front cover the title (Dicht bij mij vandaan) is written in white. Underneath, in smaller lettering, is written “by Elysa-James Kooijman”. When you turn the cover there’s a title page, which looks the same as the front cover. After the title page the pages with the photos begin. The selection (all in colour) is a mix of people and objects, chosen by their intimate feeling and loose narrative of the (autobiographical) photographic conversation between lovers. You get a peek into very private moments in their relationship. Some of these photos take up all of the page, while others are smaller and are thus surrounded by more “empty” space. Some photos take up two pages; a spread. At the end of the book there’s a poem, in the same type of lettering as the front cover, which puts an emphasis on the varied emotions in the photos. On the back cover is the same poem but mirrored. The photos are taken with a digital camera and with an analogue camera. Some of the photos are staged, and some are taken spontaneously. The analogue camera is used for the more spontaneous photos, and the digital camera for the for the staged photos, depending on the artist’s mood and the amount of control they wanted to have over the intimacy. With most photos the colour has been enhanced a little in Photoshop. After that, Illustrator has been used to make up the editing of the book. The book has been sent to a printing press, who printed, folded and bound the book. 
The project came about from an emotional curiosity. The artist wanted to see what photography would do for the intimacy of the relationship, which, they decided in the end, helped gain more emotional intimacy and security within the relationship. Because the process of making the photos emotionally slowed down time, creating a connection between the lovers was easier. Creating this stronger emotional connection between the lovers was important to the artist because of personal reasons and because of reasons going beyond themself. The artist wanted people to recognise themselves in this project, and make them spend more time with the feelings that they would usually try to skip or sweep under the rug.