Gui Marcondes – I Know I Exist Because You Imagine Me (signed)

This project, “I Know I Exist Because You Imagine Me, ” explores the idea of loss of identity and the collective unconscious. The book is inspired by the photographer’s recent experience of leaving the USA after many years to return to his home country of Brazil.

The atmospheric narrative portrays the artist’s state of mind during a transitional event. It is about living in the afterglow of a world that no longer exists—a last glimpse fading away from your vision, distorted through the lens of the media- scape that immerses us.

The book has two main influences: post-war Japanese photography and late 70’s post-punk culture. In both cases, they are a reaction to traumatic events. Japan was dealing with a sudden and violent disintegration of society. “Western” culture was slowly breaking down from the post-WWII social consensus, and post-punk was a reaction to it. With all their differences, both of those cultural moments were trying to deal, in a poetic way, with the loss of their reality and identity. Instead of being nostalgic and idealizing the past, they were devouring all the popular culture that came their way and processing that unmanageable amount of information intuitively to imagine a way forward.

“I Know I Exist Because You Imagine Me” follows that poetic strategy. Beyond creating a linear narrative about this world, it creates an atmosphere where another world can be imagined – Gui Marcondes