Taking Off. Henry my neighbor
From almost 600 entries from 32 countries, the international jury of Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt has granted four awards to the Dutch-Flemish selection of the Best Dutch Books Designs of 2015. One of the awards is the main prize, the Gouden Letter (Golden Letter). The awards ceremony will take place on Friday 18 March during the Leipziger Buchmesse. The book ‘Taking Off. Henry my neighbor’ by Mariken Wessels receives one of five honorable mentions.
‘Taking Off’ shows a genuine picture story of a failed marriage, burdened by sexual frustration and voyeurism. Through friends in the United States, a private collection of 5,500 photos, dozens of collages, and seventeen clay figures, fell into the hands of artist Mariken Wessels. Based on this collection, she reconstructed the couple’s failed marriage.
An exhibition of the same title is on view at FotoMuseum Antwerp, from March 4 to June 5, 2016.
Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt
Honorable mention
Title: ‘Taking off. Henry my Neighbor’
Publisher: Art Paper Editions
Designer: Mariken Wessels and Jurgen Maelfeyt
Printer: Die Keure, Brugge
Binder: Binderij Hexspoor
Special Edition
Concept & design by Mariken Wessels
25 copies, signed/numbered
Enclosed in a handmade cardboard box 25 cm x 34 cm
Silk-screen print on the cover and inside of the box
1 folder, A0 poster, printed on barite paper, of a collage taken from the book (841 mm x 1189 mm)
2 loose leaf prints on brite paper, one of the two showing a collage not included in the book (29 x 23 cm)
Various small prints of letters and such