Ari MarcopoulosAinsi Soit-Il by Ari Marcopoulos


Ari MarcopoulosAinsi Soit-Il
Title : Ari MarcopoulosAinsi Soit-Il
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 9492811847
ISBN-10 : 9789492811844
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 176
Publication : Published January 1, 2023

“I came around the bend of the unpaved road that opened up onto a bay and a view out to the ocean as far as the eye could see. I knew this view very well, even though it was my first time there.” This is the scene Ari Marcopoulos describes when he and Kara Walker went to visit Robert Frank and his wife, June Leaf, at their summer house in Nova Scotia. It felt like a pilgrimage. Robert would pass away a year later, shortly after their second visit. Presented here are the intimate photographs Ari captured during these two encounters among dear friends. “Ainsi soit-il” is the phrase Robert taught Ari. “So be it”. Limited edition with a signed Risograph print and other inserts.

Ari MarcopoulosAinsi Soit-Il Reviews

  • Ryan

    This book was a gift from Mitch Epstein to me, knowing how much I respected Robert Frank's work as well as Ari Marcopoulos and Kara Walker's, but also knew I was planning a trip to Nova Scotia myself this summer. The book is the chronicle of friendship between the above mentioned artists as well as June Leaf, the painter who was married to Frank. It's also about pilgrimage and reverence and of people and place, here Frank's residence in Cape Breton and the environs. Walker's essay at the end looks at the idea of hero-worship, and undermines and reinforces it quite eloquently, while also elucidating the history of the environs themselves. The book exists on a continuum; it is a reference to Frank's photos, especially in The Lines of My Hand which I'm familiar with, as well as his films made there. It also shows Marcopoulos in the artistic tradition of him as well, using the camera as a recorder but also a tool through which to make firm the seen world in its state of transience. A beautiful book worth seeking out.

    I listened to Wall of Eyes by The Smile and Surround by Hiroshi Yoshimura while looking at this one.