Queen Ann. P.S. Belly cut off

Queen Ann P.S. Belly cut off is the unfolding of a melancholic narrative of a woman whose life seems to be dominated by her obesity. Wessels affords her readers a gaze that is at once intimate but never voyeuristic. Queen Ann's peculiar and touching photo collages function as self-renderings that express a longing for another 'being'; these projections of herself coalesce with the image that the book evokes around her persona. An uncomfortable incompatibility emerges between the present and the past life of Ann and the status of being beautiful, an unease that the arrangement of the photos make all too evident.

Specifications of the photo book:
Queen Ann P.S. Belly cut off / 2010
Concept and design Mariken Wessels
Dimensions 24 cm x 33 cm
80 pages
800 copies
Full color
ISBN 9789081531412 | NL/ENG
Including glassine envelope containing photos
Limited edition of 75 copies

The book is published by Alauda Publications and available at Johan Deumens Gallery, Alauda Publications and other book stores, see the links page. Selected reviews of the book at 5B4 Photography, Joerg Colberg & Mister Motley.

A limited edition in a handmade box is also available with 2 unpublished photos on Hahnemühle Photo Rag.

In 2012 Queen Ann was presented as a rolling slideshow for the SLIDELUCK POTSHOW AMS2. The show was curated by Paul Kooiker at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam. Music by Gerard Atema.