This expanded edition of Calle's 1994 classic features four new tales
First published in French in 1994, quickly acclaimed as a photobook classic and since republished and enhanced, True Stories returns for the fifth time, gathering a series of short autobiographical texts and photos by acclaimed French artist Sophie Calle, this time with four new tales. Calle’s projects have frequently drawn on episodes from her own life, but this book--part visual memoir, part meditation on the resonances of photographs and belongings--is as close as she has come to producing an autobiography, albeit one highly poetical and fragmentary, as is characteristic of her work. The tales--never longer than a page--are by turns lighthearted, humorous, serious, dramatic or cruel. Each is accompanied by an image; each offers a fragment of life.
The slim, portable volume is divided into sections: the first is composed of various reflections on objects such as a shoe, a postcard or “the breasts”; the second, “The Husband,” of recollections of episodes from Calle’s first marriage; and the third gathers a variety of autobiographical recollections. Calle herself is the author, narrator and protagonist of her stories and photography; her words are somber, chosen precisely and carefully. One of the 21st century’s foremost artists, Calle here offers up her own story--childhood, marriage, sex, death--with brilliant humor, insight and pleasure.
Sophie Calle (born 1953) creates controversial works exploring the tensions between the observed, the reported, the secret and the unsaid. She has mounted solo shows at major museums across the world and represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2007.
Featured image is reproduced from Sophie Calle: True Stories.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
T Magazine
Mary Kaye Schilling
A poetic fragment of Calle’s life, through text and photo, and covers favorite subjects — childhood, love, sex and death — with her trademark mix of melancholy and dry wit.
"He wanted to take my picture with his Polaroid. When the image appeared, there was visible a red line marking my neck. I took the photograph away from him and for the next few days, I remained rather mistrustful. Two weeks later, one night, a man tried to strangle me. He left me lying unconscious on the sidewalk. I recognized that same man, three days later, in a bar. He rushed over apologizing, insisting that it was all a mistake, and suggested that I become the godmother of the baby he was expecting imminently." – Sophie Calle, "The Neck," True Stories, fifth edition. continue to blog
"Monique wanted to see the sea one last time. On Tuesday, January 31, we went to Cabourg. The last journey. The next day, 'so my feet look nice when I go:' the last pedicure. She read Ravel by Jean Echenoz. The last book. A man she had long admired but never met came to her bedside. Making a friend for the last time. She organized the funeral ceremony: her last party. Final preparations: she chose her funeral dress—navy blue with a white pattern—a photograph showing her making a face for the tombstone, and her epitaph: I’m getting bored already! She wrote a last poem, for her burial. She chose Montparnasse cemetery as her final address. She didn’t want to die. She said this was the first time in her life she didn’t mind waiting. She shed her last tears. The days before her death, she kept repeating: 'It’s odd. It’s so stupid.' She listened to the Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622. For the last time. Her last wish: to leave with the music of Mozart in her ears. Her last request: for us not to worry. 'Ne vous faites pas de souci.' Souci was her last word. On March 15, 2006, at 3:00 p.m., the last smile. The last breath, somewhere between 3:02 and 3:13. Impossible to capture. - Sophie Calle, "Obituary," True Stories, fifth edition. continue to blog
"Amelie and I were eleven years old. We had a habit of stealing from department stores on Thursday afternoons. We did this for one year. When her mother began to suspect, in order to frighten us, she said that a policeman had spotted us and reported our activities to her. But because of our age, he was giving us a second chance. He would now follow us, and if we stop stealing, he would forget about the past. In the following weeks, we spent most of our time wondering who the policeman hidden among all the people around us was. In our attempts to lose him, we were now too busy to steal. Our last robbery had been a pair of red shoes too big for us to wear. Amelie kept the right shoe, and I kept the left. – Sophie Calle, True Stories, fifth edition. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 4 x 7.5 in. / 112 pgs / 51 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $20.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $27.95 ISBN: 9782330060404 PUBLISHER: Actes Sud AVAILABLE: 8/23/2016 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WORLD excl UK FR BE CH
This expanded edition of Calle's 1994 classic features four new tales
First published in French in 1994, quickly acclaimed as a photobook classic and since republished and enhanced, True Stories returns for the fifth time, gathering a series of short autobiographical texts and photos by acclaimed French artist Sophie Calle, this time with four new tales. Calle’s projects have frequently drawn on episodes from her own life, but this book--part visual memoir, part meditation on the resonances of photographs and belongings--is as close as she has come to producing an autobiography, albeit one highly poetical and fragmentary, as is characteristic of her work. The tales--never longer than a page--are by turns lighthearted, humorous, serious, dramatic or cruel. Each is accompanied by an image; each offers a fragment of life.
The slim, portable volume is divided into sections: the first is composed of various reflections on objects such as a shoe, a postcard or “the breasts”; the second, “The Husband,” of recollections of episodes from Calle’s first marriage; and the third gathers a variety of autobiographical recollections. Calle herself is the author, narrator and protagonist of her stories and photography; her words are somber, chosen precisely and carefully. One of the 21st century’s foremost artists, Calle here offers up her own story--childhood, marriage, sex, death--with brilliant humor, insight and pleasure.
Sophie Calle (born 1953) creates controversial works exploring the tensions between the observed, the reported, the secret and the unsaid. She has mounted solo shows at major museums across the world and represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2007.
