Photobooks of 2018: Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi

Persan-Beaumont by Denis Dailleux (Éditions du bec en l’air)
A lot of photographers keep series secret for decades and more. From 1987 and over the course of 5 summers, Denis Dailleux traveled from Paris to Persan-Beaumont, the last stop of a suburbian train to meet with kids from the neighbourhood. Raw and touching.

Except the clouds by Bérangère Fromont (VOID)
One day, slightly by chance, Bérangère Fromont met with Athens. For what will become “Except the clouds”, she intensely captured the grittiness of the city, the darkness but also the hope. The book is unusual and radical with an inside paper so rough it’s almost dirty. Not all is chaos. But most of it is black.

Parce que by Sophie Calle (Éditions Xavier Barral)
Every sentence starts with “parce que” (because) and is followed by all the reasons why Sophie Calle pressed the shutter. One has no choice but to read the text first as the photographs are hidden inside the pages. Serious and playful at the same time, provided you speak French.

And, where did the peacocks go? by Miho Kajioka (M Éditions)
Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, many artists felt the urge to tell a story. Miho Kajioka’s found out in a blog that a few peacocks were found in the evacuation zone. Her mind started to wander. A very well printed and produced book that captures the essence of the artist’s handmade prints.

Pacific Peace Piece by Aaron Stern (205-A)
Aaron Stern is good at pairing text and words. Pacific Peace Piece is yet another collaboration with a poet, Carl Phillips, with whom he spent over half a year corresponding, sending work back and forth until they found a poem and body of photographs that choir together. So effective that it looks simple, which is when you know it’s good.

Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi is a French / Japanese publisher. She is the co-founder and director of Chose Commune, an independent publishing house dedicated to carefully curated and crafted books

Images: top – And, where did the peacocks go? by Miho Kajioka, below – Except the clouds by Bérangère Fromont