She Folds Her Memories Like A Parachute

After discovering Cristian van der Kooy’s photobook titled, “Anastasiia, She Folds Her Memories Like A Parachute,”(1) I think that the premise for my work will be heavily informed by this style. This work explores the development of the relationship between the photographer and his
girlfriend Anastasiia, which is a similar theme to that which I plan to explore. The photo book includes streetscapes, portraits, images captured from private webcam chats, and reproductions of text messages. I particularly like the text messages and screenshots- they give it a real sense of authenticity and intimacy, almost a voyeuristic feel. Interesting also that the screenshots and messages are printed in a uniform red colour. I wonder if this represents something in particular?

I was able to find a flip through of this book, published by the Photo Book Store UK on Vimeo, but the video’s restrictions don’t allow me to embed it in this post. https://vimeo.com/279244381

I also found a PDF that shows some of the book in full resolution, but I cannot find the source of this (someone anonymous just uploaded it to Amazon storage, and it came from a link in a Google search.)

After researching a little deeper, I discovered the sources of inspiration (2) that van der Kooy drew on for this series. In particular, I was drawn to two of those sources, Unfinished Dissertation by Boris Mikhailov (3) and For Every Minute You Are Angry You Lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness by Julian Germain (4).

Above are some images from Mikhailov’s Unfinished Dissertation.  I like the very loose, almost scrapbook feel to the images. But particularly I like the handwriting that accompanies them.

Images above are taken from the series, For Every Minute You Are Angry You Lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness by Julian Germain, in which the photographer documents an elderly man living alone over a period of 8 years. There are photographs of the man’s family album included, and I was impressed by the way that these particular images were presented at the exhibition stage. They are printed large scale, taking up entire walls of the gallery. I am intrigued by the way this changes the viewing experience, as usually a family album is small, and viewing is quite an intimate, close experience. www.juliangermain.com

(1) Van Der Kooy, C 2017, Anastasiia: She Folds Her Memories Like A Parachute, 1st edn, The Eriskay Connection, Netherlands

(2) Fotoroom, 2020, Christian van der Kooy Explores Contemporary Ukraine with His Ukrainian Girlfriend, Anastasiia, viewed 03 April 2020 <https://fotoroom.co/anastasiia-christian-van-der-kooy/>

(3) Mikhailov, B 1999,Unfinished Dissertation, photographic series, viewed 03 April 2020 <https://www.lensculture.com/books/11506-unfinished-dissertation>

(4) Germain, J 2005, For Every Minute You Are Angry You Lose Sixty Seconds of Happiness, photographic series, viewed April 03 2020, <http://www.juliangermain.com/projects/foreveryminute.php>