Love Songs: Photography and Intimacy

Love Songs is a collection of photographs by established and emerging contemporary photographers that explore love, desire, and intimacy in all their complex and contradictory ways. The series includes works by Nan Goldin, Nobuyoshi Araki, RongRong & inri, Leigh Ledare, and others, making a portrait of love in all its risk, complexity, sensuality, and tenderness.

Format: Hardback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 04 July 2023
Publisher: Distributed Art Publishers

Love Songs is a captivating exhibition that brings together a diverse range of series by established and emerging contemporary photographers, exploring the intricate and multifaceted aspects of love, desire, and intimacy. Spanning from 1952 to 2022, these series offer a profound insight into the complex and ever-changing nature of human relationships.

One of the standout series featured in Love Songs is Nan Goldin's seminal 1986 photobook, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. This powerful collection of photographs captures the raw and vulnerable moments of Goldin's personal life, including her relationships with her lovers and friends. Goldin's work is characterized by her intimate portrayal of her subjects, often blurring the lines between herself and her subjects, emphasizing the blurred boundaries of love and sexuality.

Another notable series is Nobuyoshi Araki's Sentimental Journey, which comprises two parts: Sentimental Journey (1969) and Winter Journey (1989–90). These works present a captivating account of Araki's relationship with his wife, Yoko, from their honeymoon to her passing. Araki's photographs are characterized by their candid and voyeuristic nature, capturing the emotional and physical intimacy between the couple. Through his lens, Araki explores the complexities of love, desire, and loss, creating a deeply personal and introspective portrait of their relationship.

RongRong&inri's tender and poetical Polaroid series, Personal Letters, is also included in Love Songs. This series consists of intimate and personal photographs exchanged between the artists over a period of time. The photographs are characterized by their candidness and emotional depth, capturing the essence of their love and connection. RongRong&inri's work explores the themes of vulnerability, trust, and the complexities of interpersonal relationships.

Leigh Ledare's Double Bind is a complex and multi-layered account of a love triangle between Ledare, his ex-wife, and her new husband. Through a series of photographs, videos, and text, Ledare explores the complexities of love, desire, and jealousy, creating a deeply personal and introspective portrait of his relationships. Ledare's work is characterized by his use of visual storytelling and his exploration of the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

Other notable photographers included in Love Songs are Motoyuki Daifu, Nan Goldin, Emmet Gowin, René Groebli, Hervé Guibert, Sheree Hovsepian, Clifford Prince King, Leigh Ledare, Lin Zhipeng, Sally Mann, RongRong&inri, Collier Schorr, Hideka Tonomura, and Karla Hiraldo Voleau. Each of these artists brings their unique perspective and artistic style to the series, creating a rich and diverse portrait of love in all its forms.

Love Songs is a powerful exhibition that challenges our perceptions of love, desire, and intimacy. Through the lens of these photographers, we are invited to explore the complexities and contradictions of human relationships, and to appreciate the beauty and complexity of love in all its forms. Whether through the candid and voyeuristic photographs of Araki, the poetic and intimate Polaroid series of RongRong&inri, or the complex and introspective portraits of Ledare, Love Songs offers a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the human experience.

Weight: 1052g
Dimension: 198 x 287 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781636811178