Max Pinckers & Quinten De Bruyn - Lotus - 2016

Max Pinckers & Quinten De Bruyn: LOTUS – Brussels, Lyre Press, May 2016 Print Run: limited edition of 3,000 copies.

in 4to, 20,5 x 27,5 cm., publisher’s original cloth, 152 pages with an elaborate layout featuring 75 primary color photographs, plus over 100 secondary images and Polaroids presented on fold-out pages, graphic design by Manuel Zenner, Includes a critical essay by writer and art historian Hans Theys. In excellent condition, apart from a very faint, small mark on the spine (see photo).

LOTUS is a significant photographic project and photobook created collaboratively by Belgian photographers Max Pinckers and Quinten De Bruyn, officially published in June 2016 by the publishing house Lyre Press.
The work documents the community of transsexual individuals—known as *kathoey*, or more commonly as "ladyboys"—in Thailand. However, the project goes well beyond mere social reportage. The gender crisis experienced by the subjects is deliberately transformed by the authors into a visual metaphor for the identity crisis facing contemporary documentary photography.
Pinckers and De Bruyn challenge the myth of the objective photographer acting as a "fly on the wall." Instead, they employ an aesthetic that is explicitly manipulated and constructed:
The images blend spontaneity with overtly orchestrated poses, often leaving professional equipment—such as tripods and artificial lights—visible within the frame.
To counterbalance their own directorial presence, the photographers distributed disposable cameras directly to the subjects, incorporating these spontaneous snapshots into the project.
The book evolved from an initial artist’s dummy, conceived in 2011 at the Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem.

Careful protective packaging, fast and tracked shipping.