Shortlisted for the 2020 Lucie Foundation Prototype Book Prize, the Perimeter x PHOTO2021 International Book Prize and awarded with the silver award for the 2020 BIFA Documentary Photo Book Prize, an Honorable Mention for the Tokyo International Foto Awards, Official Selection for the London International Creative Competition 2020 and a winner of the Belfast Photo Festival 2021, The Quickening details the claustrophobia, myopia, paradoxical loneliness and luminance of new motherhood and the postpartum period.
Riso and offset printed, this uniquely crafted book was published in a limited first edition of 250 copies, redolent of the number of days of gestation before the premature birth of the author’s son. Created as an editioned art book, each copy is signed and numbered. A variety of papers were used to reflect a complexity of perception and a soft french fold feels full and fleshy in the hands. A chaotic and varying bind with red string is a nod to the stitches used during the emergency caesarean birth of the child and no book is precisely the same.
Prior to publishing, the project has won multiple recognitions, including Honorable Mention in the Julia Margaret Cameron Award, a finalist place in the Vevey Images Grand Prix, participation in the celebrated group show titled, “Birth,” at TJ Boulting Gallery in London and a solo show at Rencontres d’Arles in France in 2019.
Ang’s depiction of matrescence is layered and complex. Her images blend the gentle and soft, with a strain and rawness that becomes all-consuming. Velvety skin is enveloped in warm, delicate light. But, motifs of that tenderness behind misted glass at once suggest fullness and a claustrophobic repetition. The narrative is textured and sensual; it mirrors the intensity of Ang’s lived experience. – British Journal of Photography.
90 pages, 21.8 x 28 cm, french fold and section-sewn softcover with linen sleeve, self-published (Melbourne).