“She is successively called Rachel, Monique, Szyndler, Calle, Pagliero, Gonthier, Sindler,” says French photographer Sophie Calle. “My mother loved that we talk about her. Her life doesn’t appear in my work. That annoyed her. When I set my camera at the foot of the bed where she was dying, because I was afraid that she would expire in my absence, whereas I wanted to be there to hear her last word, she shouted: ‘Finally.’ ”
In this book, Sophie Calle is relating Monique through excerpts of private notebooks and photographs from family albums and is presenting her installation that was done at the Palais de Tokyo, which was dedicated to her mother who passed away in 2007. Primarily, this book is a real object conceived with the artist. The cover’s text is embroidered to make it a precious , and the ensemble of texts related to the installation are embossed to revisit certain works by the photographer. The objective was to make a very personal and moving book , that is at the same time, a reflection on death, which touches every one of us.
Sophie Calle, Rachel Monique
Published by Xavier Barral
49€
