zolang je niet zo over problemen praat zie je er toch niks van
Zolang je niet zo over problemen praat zie je er toch niks van (As long as you don't talk about problems so much you won't see them anyway) is a photobook about empathy in psychiatry. Portraits of people in conversation and observations in body language are combined with textual dialogues. This project originated during a residency in Het Vijfde Seizoen, the residency on the terrain of a psychiatric institution in Den Dolder, NL. In the book you are invited to ponder the (in)ability to place yourself into another's shoes, the absurdity of mental illness as well as the familiarity and humanity of those who suffer from voices in their head, delusions, psychoses and depression. The title brings to doubt the work itself and the impossibility to photograph something as complicated as mental health problems.
installation view at ‘I see you are not there’, solo-exhibition at Beautiful Distress House, Amsterdam
Book, 96 pages, printed in duotone in an edition of 300, 11,5 x 18,4 cm, 2018
photographs of the book by Justina Nekrasaite for De Monsterkamer
The book is designed by Rosan Dekker. All text in the book is in Dutch. 'Zolang je niet zo over problemen praat zie je er toch niks van' was made possible by Het Vijfde Seizoen & Stichting Niemeijer Fonds.
A copy of the book 'Zolang je niet zo over problemen praat zie je er toch niks van' costs 25 euro (including postage within the Netherlands).