MATADI

Limited edition

64 pages with canvas soft cover, mirrored pages, 280 x 210 mm, 300 copies

ISBN 978-91-527-5852-6

Villa Matadi, Saltsjöbaden was a meeting place for the local artists colony in the late 1930s as well as being the house and studio of Swedish Sculptor Nils Sjögren b.1894 and whose sculptures inhabit the house and grounds of his former home.

Moving into the converted former ballroom at Villa Matadi, Janneke van der Hagen got the chance to live amongst many of Sjögren’s sculptures; existing mostly as fragments or broken pieces of works which she was free to touch, move and manipulate. With a practice centred around the sculptural and sensual depiction of the human body Janneke van der Hagen makes pictures that appear both monumental and intimate. This dualism was something she found immediately and inspiringly present in the fragmented forms of the sculptures around her, often appearing more tender, human but also iconic than the finished work when seen in its totality.

Interspersed throughout the book are tight crops of pole dancing, still life images and portraits that explore a heightened state of observation, a searching for angles that render the subject both personal and monumental. Mirrored pages invite the viewer as an active participant in this game of seeing and revealing in a project that proposes seeing-as-being-present; catalysed by sculptures made over a century ago.

The first 100 copies sold include two A2 posters.

* The book is also sold in the bookshops of FOAM and Huis van Marseille, photography museums in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Designed by Merel Korteweg

Text c/o Mike Merkenschlager