Beyond here is nothing (Sealed copy)

Laura El-Tantawy
Beyond here is nothing (Sealed copy)

Photographs: Laura El-Tantawy

Text: Laura El-Tantawy

Publisher: Self-published

190 pages

Year: 2017

Comments: One publication consisting of three interwoven volumes opening in three directions. Books hand sewn and bound in hard case with Wibalin cover, 185 x 160 mm. First edition, 2017. Edition limited to 500 numbered copies. Design by SYB. Sealed copy.

“Enclosed between four walls, the sound of silence never seemed louder. It’s claustrophobic. I wait for the phone to ring, check for emails obsessively, eat everything out of the fridge. The hunger remains. I feel like if I dig my hand deep into my soul, I will find nothing. The awareness I am experiencing is unspeakable. Faces change when we meet. Is their solitude reflected in mine? There is an awkward silence.” Laura El-Tantawy.

Beyond Here Is Nothing is a photo-book object meditating on home. A place of belonging, a tranquil state of mind ; a nostalgic memory or an imaginary destination – home is a perpetual possibility El-Tantawy is journeying to reach. Her personal experience growing up in contrasting cultures is the window to an intimate and emotive visual exploration of the unsettling feeling of rootlessness, the mental burden of loneliness and the constant search for belonging in unfamiliar places. Drifting between the physical and the whimsical, the book reveals itself through layers of images and words. A mirror of dispositions. A living object harmonizing with time.

The innovative design by SYB, with three booklets folding out like a cross, allows the viewer to play with an endless compositions of images.