Elf Dalia

@ Daniels, Maja

978-1912339372

New

Presentation by Mack Books:

" « If you follow the river north from Mora, you will reach a community with a dark, insular spirit. » Embedded in this historical enigma of a place and its people, Elf Dalia by Maja Daniels weaves together a narrative born out of the Swedish valley of Älvdalen.

Daniels combines photographs taken from 2011 to 2017 with curious pictures from an archive amassed by a man named Tenn Lars Persson (1878 –1938), a local inventor, mechanic and photographer. These two artists come together across centuries to create a coherent narrative; in doing so, Elf Dalia naturally draws attention to possible fictions of documentary photography.

Layered with the relics of this remote region, which to this day speaks the near-extinct ancient language of Elfdalian, this book explores how the myth and ritual of its past is compromised by contemporary living.

The region's geographical isolation, delineated by forest, mountains and lakes, sits at the core of Daniels' and Persson's work. A snow-covered landscape creates an eerie setting that calls to mind the witch trials that originated in the region in 1668. Persson's early photographic experimentation results in strange, uncanny photographs: in one, two men seem to hover mid air, in another, two women sit together on a crescent moon.

Woven within these works, Daniels photographs preside in a similar territory, spanning the mystical and vernacular with a kindred symbolic language. Like Persson, she depicts the day-to-day life of this community: in their homes, by the lake, with their families. Yet emerging from this sense of the community are portraits illustrating a younger generation as it tries to negotiate the friction between tradition and modernity in Älvdalen.

In Elf Dalia, Daniels enters into dialogue with Persson in order to reinforce the community's unique eccentricity and to question when an historical continuity and pride becomes insularity, when rituals of myth and storytelling might evoke a dark spirit. "

LAST NEW COPY: a perfect new copy that has been browsed and replaced in the original shrinkwrap.

This photobook is SOLD OUT by the publisher (last copies currently direct-selling for £200).

136 pages - Softcover

Mack Books, 2019

Format : 22 x 29 cm

New - Mint condition

This book is no longer in stock

$137.31

Daniels, Maja

Maja Daniels is a photography-based Swedish artist based in London. From World Press Photo : « Having studied journalism, photography and sociology, her work focuses on social documentary and portraiture with an emphasis on human relations in a western, contemporary environment. » In 2019, she publishes her first photobook "Elf Dalia" with Mack Books. © Portrait taken from the World Press Photo website (uncredited)
  • Quick view Jude, Ron
    $74.38 Out of stock

    .PLEASE NOTE: Currently out of stock, new SIGNED copies on the way - Shipment around May 3rd, 2021. Presentation by Mack: " 12 Hz—the lowest sound threshold of human hearing—suggests imperceptible forces, from plate tectonics to the ocean tides, from cycles of growth and decay in the forest, to the incomprehensibility of geological spans of time. The...

    $74.38
    Add to cart
    Out of stock
  • Publisher's presentation : "Collier Schorr’s latest book 8 Women presents work which spans from the mid-nineties to the present. Schorr’s earliest works utilised appropriated adverts from fashion magazines to address issues of authorship and desire; the works introduced a female gaze into the debate about female representation. Appropriation was Schorr’s...

    $61.79
    Add to cart
    Out of stock
  • Quick view Graham, Paul
    $62.94 Out of stock

    .Copies of the 2021 reprint (2nd printing) of the 2020 Mack edition of this book. Presentation by Mack: " A1 - The Great North Road was Paul Graham's first book, published in 1983 [self-published via Grey Editions]. Despite the UK having a vibrant photographic scene at the time, there were only handful of monographic books - Chris Killip and Martin Parr...

    $62.94
    Add to cart
    Out of stock