the womb is frail, the distance ephemeral, the consumption of a latent promise, the fog, the sentimental no, the agreement of death, the key to the senses the lack of language, hers, after her.
the womb is frail when empty, the presence ethereal, time produces quakes on the shroud of eternity, the thickness, the density, nearly here never again
men and women walking, the darkness they bear, beating the glimpsed years ahead until they are, you Mother, the dim and the faint, flowers in your garden smell, they died and they bloomed again, they die and they bloom always.
12 x 18 cm96 pages
off-white, grey and black FAVINI paper
CMYK offset printing 300 copies
handmade section sewn
exposed spine
slipcase with silver foil
61 images of which 24 torn and tipped in
Best Photobook 2019 list for
Patrick Maille
The very thoughtful and high quality of the design makes for an object that perfectly fits the hand and its purpose: what an album of memories should be without the gimmicks of the materials and old papers and focusing only on the pictures. The dummy of the book – that was initially to be published by Edition du Lic around 2017 – was in its form a beautiful scrap book that maybe could have only existed in the form of a facsimile, therefore loosing at once part of its aura and balance. After a long gestation, Akina proposition, while a long way from the original dummy, preserve the sensuality and the idea of the scrap book while in the same time placing it in a radically modern and simple case. Achieved with very simple means it creates a strong outer statement that once the book is open fades in the background lets the delicate pictures and fragment of pictures lead us in an awaken rêverie, ancient and modern at the same time.
Best Photobook 2019 list for
Gabriela Cendoya
First book by Italian photographer Laura Rodari, and a beautiful come back from Akina books. For me The gray line is a visual poem on melancholy, on the thin line between darkness and light there is in all of us, in nature or in aging. It is an experimental poem on life sadness and tenderness. There is hope in melancholy, as much as there is light next to darkness, and it is beautiful.
Best Photobook 2019 list for
Brad Feuerhelm
Stark, brooding and incipit in its ability to disseminate representational form, Rodari’s much-anticipated new book leans and sags and commits to the treason of interpersonal potential. It wants little discussion and it favors solitude as a means in which it thrives. The images within are a testament to the nature of photography’s sincere ability to be revered as a solitary environment.
Best Photobook 2019 list for
Luis Esdale
Akina within a given year always give us something special and The Gray Line is one of those books. Handmade, this is as much an art object as it is a photobook. When I consider Akina I always see their work with photographers more as a collaboration. The amount of time and consideration always leaves one in awe. The Gray Line is a book that takes us through Rodari’s poetic recollection of memories. It is a book embedded in solitude, melancholia and time.
