Taking Off. Henry My Neighbor

‘Taking Off’ is a real picture story of a failed marriage, of sexual frustration and voyeurism. An extraordinary amount of photographs and cut-up collages comprise an archival vertigo of amateur nude art. Through people she met on a journey through the United States, Mariken Wessels gained access to the studio and the entire archive of Henry, as well as full consent over its use. She started redacting the work and rearranging it, so to form an artist’s book, in which the audience will be invited to a journey into Henry’s vision of his wife and muse, and to discover the photographic obsessions of Henry, which through encountering them in the book could become our obsessions too.

Mariken Wessels was born in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, 1963. She was raised in Breda, and now lives and works in Amsterdam.
www.marikenwessels.com

APE (Art Paper Editions) is an independent publishing platform. APE was founded in 2010 by Jurgen Maelfeyt and Caroline De Malsche and focusses on the book as an exhibition space. APE works with artists and institutions.