“Beauty is the last veil that covers the horrible.” (Zizek/Lacan/Rilke)
By sequencing recurring patterns from the streets of Kolkata, “The Veil of Maya 1” materializes on paper the flayed skin of a city. Layers and layers of colourful posters and promising ads cover the walls like an aesthetic bacteria; it’s intermittence is almost compulsive. This 2000-page volume brings together an overflowing torrent of “imaginary photographs” in an editorial ideal of copiousness.
“The Veil of Maya 1” is the first of 7 artist-books to be published in the coming years in a very limited edition of 35 copies each. Taking its title from a common metaphor defining the state of perennial illusion in which people are trapped, “The Veil of Maya” serial project deals with the duality enchantment-disenchantment from 7 different perspectives. In this editorial experiment, photography is often mixed with appropriated materials from various sources, both textual and visual, creating a profusion of eclectic scenarios.
Photographs © Tiane Doan na Champassak. Custom-made box by Laurel Parker Book.