- Reading
Talk and Reading at C/O Berlin
C/O Berlin presents Julie Legouez’s artist book »The Cure« at the first TALKING BOOKS event, opening up an often under-represented conversation on domestic violence.
from the book
The Cure
by Julie Legouez
- by Maitreya Ravenstar
On March 20th, C/O Berlin invited Helena Melikov, co-founder of SHIFT BOOKS, and Julie Legouez, the artist and author of The Cure, to give a talk as the first of the museum’s event series, TALKING BOOKS. Legouez read from The Cure, her first publication where she shares her personal process of being affected by domestic violence. Legouez chose to read a passage from her diary which is included in the book, designed as a “file” with detailed evidence. After the reading, Melikov gave a talk on why SHIFT BOOKS publishes books that address difficult topics such as domestic violence, expressing how after the pandemic domestic violence statistics rose, making awareness on the subject ever more crucial.
TALKING BOOKS is a new series founded by Sophia Greiff and Raluca Blidar that takes place at the C/O Berlin Café and hosts publishers and photographers to present and discuss their latest projects, inviting their audiences to exchange ideas about the complex relationship between photography and books.
Raluca Blidar talks about the visibility of photo books, C/O Berlin, © SHIFT BOOKS
C/O Berlin Café, © SHIFT BOOKS
“With the new event series TALKING BOOKS, C/O Berlin will regularly highlight the world of photo books from spring 2024. In addition to the diversity of their forms and formats, their use as an artistic medium and their reception in research and criticism, the focus will be on local book culture.”
C/O Berlin
The Cure
Julie Legouez
43€
Softcover with index perforation
German and English
Texts:
Josefin Granetoft, Julie Legouez, Julia Meyer-Brehm
The Cure was presented in discussion with C/O Berlin’s exhibition of the artist Laia Abril, “On Rape – And Institutional Failure.” Abril used a research-based approach to accumulate found and original photographs, reports, quotations, videos and artifacts to communicate and explore the structures that make rape possible, revealing how misogynist attitudes are normalized in society and politics. This accumulation of evidence parallels Legouez’s approach to addressing and processing the violence committed against herself.
Many other artists address domestic abuse and gender-based violence. If you are interested in exploring the topic more, Donna Ferrato is an internationally acclaimed photojournalist who’s 1991 photography book, “Living With the Enemy” sparked a national discussion on sexual violence and women’s rights for its groundbreaking documentation of the hidden world of domestic violence.
The publisher Helena Melikov introduces the books, © SHIFT BOOKS
Maitreya Ravenstar is an intern at SHIFT BOOKS, senior at Skidmore College studying Multimedia Journalism
Maitreya has worked as a News Assistant for Skidmore College’s Office of Marketing and Communications since 2022. Her publication “but as the clouds descended on us, I could see you” was selected for Printed Matter‘s Decolonization, Resistance, and Interconnected Solidarity table and her articles have been published by the School Renewal Journal, IES Abroad, and Scope Magazine.
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