Antoine d'Agata

[cr]

Just clumsily copying the posts about Antoine d'Agata from Sotos thread, with no regards who posted it. I hope, that's ok.
Please take this thread as opportunity to further discuss the work of Antoine d'Agata. Recommending books, films, general discussion and so on.


I wanted Desistance so bad since I'm a huge fan of Antoine d'Agata's works. But it's okay, I'm sure I'll find another copy on sale next time.

His posting that book reminded me of d'Agata---so I finally spent some time researching him, and I like his work a lot from what I see.  I just ordered a copy of Acephale earlier today.  Favorite works/books by him?

I can strongly recommend Antibodies and Ice.
Apart from Acephale, some other books were also released on Studio Vortex in recent years - https://studio-vortex.com/
I also really like the documentary film about d'Agata called The Cambodian Room: Situations with Antoine d'Agata

Antibodies looked very interesting, but it was out of my price range for a first-off "see if I really like it" sort of purchase.  I'm hoping that Acephale will give me enough for a start.  Thankfully, it looks like several of those other books listed there have made their way to US sellers!

I came across that movie in preliminary research too, so I will try and watch it sometime soon.



Thanks!

[theotherjohn]

Some YouTube Let's Read's courtesy of Rafael Bosco Vieira.

Antibodies (Prestel, 2014):

Agonie (Actes Sud/Atelier de Visu, 2009):

Codex. Mexico 1986-2016 (Editorial RM, 2017):

I have Antibodies which I recommend getting if you can find it for less than $100, though sadly it's OOP now. His photos are remarkable, but you also get to sample his writing for maybe the first time in English translation which stands up very well in its own right.

The other two books I have are the earlier titles Vortex (2003) and Stigma (2004) which I found before Antibodies for reasonable prices, but given both are under 100 pages (which seems to be the case for many of his earlier publications), solely in French language and the contained photos are mostly reproduced later on, I wouldn't consider them essential. I was considering buying a copy of Ice for a while as it seemed like a more substantial volume, but the price and the language barrier puts me off. Hoping that a used copy under £50 will show up for sale one day.

[Balor/SS1535]

Acephale arrived a few days ago, and it is fairly expansive.  The book contains several series of photographs (homeless people in India, women's faces, refugee camps, etc.) that are interspersed with (mostly French) text fragments from a range of philosophers and theorists and Internet-sourced images of historical genocides and other crimes.  He has also written several poems in English that sort of serve as chapter breaks.  It's over 700 pages long, so I am still working through it and up to a more complete opinion.

Also, I just want to say that d'Agata has the nicest signature I have ever come across in a book.  Very beautiful.  I imagine that it took him a long time to write it out in every copy of the book.

[AdamLehrerImageMaker]

I met him once when I worked as the curatorial assistant for the Museum of Sex in New York. Nice enough guy.

Have to admit I lose some respect for him when he did that horrid propaganda shoot for the Guardian of Zelensky's wife.

[Balor/SS1535]

I met him once when I worked as the curatorial assistant for the Museum of Sex in New York. Nice enough guy.

Have to admit I lose some respect for him when he did that horrid propaganda shoot for the Guardian of Zelensky's wife.

Reading some interviews with him, I can see the way that he wants to overlap the darker/arguably more predatory images with his politically clear ones, but I'm not so sure how well it works.  Just because both take place at the margins on the culture industry doesn't mean they are necessarily the same thing!

[maitrepanda]

I'm a big admirer of Antoine d'Agata. I had the chance to do a one-week photography workshop with him, and since then I've run into him in various countries. He's a very kind, humane, and incredibly cultured person.

Two years ago, he released a powerful book on the war in Ukraine, in collaboration with the Franco-American writer Jonathan Littell, titled Un endroit inconvenant in french (An Inconvenient place). I highly recommend this book, which addresses the crimes committed during World War II and the current Russian invasion, as well as the difficulties of confronting those memories.

For your information, I was lucky enough to run into him two weeks ago at the Rencontres Photographiques d'Arles for the release of his latest book. He told me he was leaving on Sunday to return to the heart of the beast... His plane was landing in Tbilisi, and from there, he was heading out on assignment.