Amygdalae Photo Book
Client: Edel Verzijl
Brief: A retrospective art book of the work of fashion photographer Edel Verzijl
Deliverables: Image selection, storyline, book design
Studio: Wunderwald (now Atelier Baumm)
Fashion photographer Edel Verzijl asked me to help her create a retrospective of the past decade of her work. The result is Amygdalae: a personal book that shows fashion photography from an entirely different angle. Edel self-published it, funded through the Dutch crowdfunding platform Voordekunst.
The word amygdalae sounds like the name of a faraway place, but we all carry it with us. Our two amygdalae sit deep in the brain and store the memories of emotional moments. They colour what we remember and keep feeding our imagination. That is exactly what happens when you take a photograph: an impression of the outside world turns into an image, a feeling, a memory.
“We dream before we contemplate. Before it becomes a conscious sight, every landscape is a dream experience.” (Gaston Bachelard)
From several hundred photographs, I selected 80 and looked for the story hidden in them. Many images simply fell into place; the story unfolded itself. The book leads you into a personal wonderland: it begins in the jungle and wanders through forests full of fragile beings, bunnies and faun-like creatures, past family moments like birthdays. Every image feels like a souvenir of a memory that’s already slipping away.
In the press: a special mention in Merel Bem’s article Lang Leve Het Fotoboek in de Volkskrant, and a review in the Huffington Post by Lia Petridis Maiello.
