Sarah Walker
Perimeter Editions
English
2019
Softcover
36 pages
305 x 200 mm
ISBN 9780987637185
Shot over three days in the attic of Pelči Manor – a grand,19th-century, art nouveau structure in the small Latvian town of Kuldīga – the latest book by young Australian photographer Sarah Walker offers an ominous, curious and claustrophobic
vantage on this historically loaded building. The site where Latvia ceded independence to Nazi occupation during World War II,
today the building is used as a school for disabled children.
But amidst Walker’s dynamic, high-flash photographs – which were composed in the dark and reviewed after the fact – the cavernous interior of the building’s attic frees itself of historical shackles or signposts, morphing to assume the guise of an untethered, intensely psychological space. Here, endless geometrical forms stutter, shadow and repeat; Latvian graffiti, cigarette butts and dead critters litter surfaces; jagged objects and rusted tools gesture towards signs of violence; overlapping beams and joists form oblique visual puzzles. As such, Walker’s Pelči Manor feels like an obsessive thought or cerebration, looping and rearranging itself toward any and every possibility, searching for a solution that may never present itself.
About the Artist
Sarah Walker (b. 1991) is a photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. Her work includes the use of found imagery, video and sculptural works. She is interested in using photography to deconstruct reality and examine ideas relating to the human condition. Walker’s work has featured in various publications including Der Greif Guest-Room curated by Jörg Colberg, Phases Magazine, The Heavy Collective, The Latent Image, Terra Firma and the book A Place Both Wonderful and Strange (Fuego Books, Murcia). She has exhibited in Australia and abroad.
About the Publisher
Perimeter Editions is the award-winning publishing imprint of Melbourne-based bookstore Perimeter Books and distribution house Perimeter Distribution.
Releasing its first publication in 2012, Perimeter Editions’ focus rests on publishing autonomous books in close collaboration with photographers, artists, curators and writers. Its publications exhibit a criticality and sensitivity to content and form.