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Essaydi, Lalla (Artist/Photographer) & Carlson, Amanda (Contributor) : Converging Territories: Photographs By Lalla Essaydi

Powerhouse Books, New York City, NY, 2005

ISBN 1576872564

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 32 pages. The artist/photographer's breakthrough first book. Retrospective collection of color portrait-photographs. One of the most beautiful art photography books of our time. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Lalla Essaydi and Daniel Power: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Lalla Essaydi. Essay by Amanda Carlson. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Lalla Essaydi's "Converging Territories". The artist/photographer's ground-breaking debut. "According to Islamic tradition, men dominate the public sphere and women are expected to remain indoors at most times. In Lalla Essaydi's native Morocco, this confinement has been further used as a punishment for those who transgress the rules of gender conduct. Essaydi reverses the meaning of these spaces, using them as a place where women are seen, not hidden. Essaydi's subjects are given a voice not only through their actions, but also through the written word. The women pose after long sessions during which Essaydi covers their clothing and few areas of exposed skin as well as the rooms themselves with elaborate Islamic calligraphy. The words are drawn with henna, a form of adornment considered women's work. Her images reflect the complex female identities found in Morocco and other Muslim societies, and give women the opportunity to engage in the emerging culture of Islamic feminism" (Publisher's blurb). Lalla Essaydi received her BFA from Tufts University and Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) from The School of The Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Her work has been shown globally at Edwynn Houk Gallery and Laurence Miller Gallery New York; Schneider Gallery Chicago; Howard Yezerski Gallery Boston; Fries Museum The Netherlands; the Art Institute of Chicago; The New Britain Museum of Art; the Columbus Museum of Art; The National Museum of Singapore; and the Danish Center for Culture and Development Denmark. An American by choice and residence, Essaydi was born in Morocco and now lives in New York City. That her work would never ever be shown in most (though not all) Arab countries and that she would never be allowed to be an artist if she ever went back almost goes without saying. About presence-as-absence/absence-as-presence, her work is unfamiliar and even alienating at first glance, which all breakthrough art is. It is only upon repeated and immersive viewings that one realizes its originality and beauty: Her work is unique, lyrically so, not just distinctive, innovative, and defiant. "I am a book that has no ending. Each book I write is the first" (Lalla Essaydi). An absolute "must-have" title for Lalla Essaydi collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed (in Arabic) in black ink-pen on the title page by Lalla Essaydi. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page or bookplate. This title is a contemporary art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Lalla Essaydi does NOT do public signings. This signed copy was obtained directly from her art gallery. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with full-page color plates. One of the most brilliant American artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER LALLA ESSAYDI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1576872564.

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