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A “bio-monographic” catalogue illuminating the approach of the artist, sculptor and ceramist Valentine Schlegel, whose practice, intimately linked to her daily life, responds to a certain logic: that of creating her own living conditions. Realized by the artist Hélène Bertin following a research on Valentine Schlegel, edited by Hélène Bertin and Charles Mazé & Coline Sunier.

In this seventh and final chapter of his project A Myth of Two Souls, Vasantha Yogananthan explores the concept of purity and the infinite cycle of life represented by the myth of the Ramayana.

A Myth of Two Souls (2013-2021) is inspired by the epic tale The Ramayana. Drawing inspiration from the imagery associated with this myth and its pervasiveness in everyday Indian life, Vasantha Yogananthan has retraced the legendary route from Nepal to India to Sri Lanka. First recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted, and continues to evolve today. Yogananthan’s series is informed by the notion of a journey in time and space and offers a modern retelling of the tale.

The seventh and last chapter, Amma (‘Mother’ in Tamil language) closes the project A Myth of Two Souls, after 437 pictures published over seven books (2016-2021). To celebrate this epic saga, Chose Commune releases a very special book in close collaboration with the artist — a book with 60 photographs tipped-in by hand (printed and bound in Italy).

Amma is centered around the princess Sita and deals with the concept of ‘purity’. By no means a happy ending, the closure of The Ramayana forces us to question Rama’s behaviour and his obedience to rules set by a patriarchal society. On the other hand, Sita’s beliefs and actions are free from culture. Sita means furrow in sanskrit, she is the daughter of the Earth.

The pictures composing Amma take us from the seacoast of Sri Lanka, to the city of Ayodhya to the jungle of Bihar, India. Their chromatic scale recreate a world where civilization gradually disappears to leave room to a purely metaphysical space. The Ramayana has neither end nor beginning. It represents the circle of life and therefore it will always be.

Issei Suda’s vivid scenes capture the energy of Tokyo and its surroundings, where the protagonists are caught in their unique moments.

The story behind 78 tells of a promise kept after the passing of the Japanese master of photography Issei Suda, to publish a book with an original approach. Although the project originated in January 2019, 78 presents a selection of unseen photographs selected from the Suda archive in November 2019. Shot between 1971 and 1983, these photographs have never been published until this day.

In this book, Suda’s unique and profoundly urban vision unfolds in a series of contrasts and allusions. The unexpected presence of animals and children’s mischievous looks fill up the streets, adding a sense of strangeness to these everyday scenes. From Tokyo to its surrounding prefectures, the photographer’s striking world is immersed in urban energy, bringing out – with a hint of humour – its spirit. The same energy can also be found in Suda’s trademark deep and contrasted blacks, a unique hallmark of his work.

“It was only upon our return to France that I realised Suda had passed away at 78, the exact number of prints we had intuitively selected on that autumn afternoon. This book is a tribute to the great photographer he was.”

Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi

Edition of 16 comprising a first edition book with one of three inkjet prints handpainted with acrylic by Vasantha Yogananthan (21 x 25 cm, signed and numbered on the reverse), housed together in a 32 x 26 cm clamshell box, handmade and handpainted by La Reliure Contemporaine (Morina Mongin). Each box is unique and may look slightly different from the picture.

Edition of 16 comprising a first edition book with one of two inkjet prints by Vasantha Yogananthan (21 x 25 cm, signed and numbered on the reverse), housed together in a 32 x 26 cm clamshell box, handmade by La Reliure Contemporaine (Morina Mongin).
Each box is unique and may look slightly different from the picture.

Thirty years of travel and encounters along a Russian river, where Claudine Doury captures the evolution of landscapes, generations, and traditions.

Amour diaries photographer Claudine Doury thirty year quest along the banks of the Amur River in Russia. She journeyed along its banks in 1991, 1997 and 2018, making images that meet together in this book. As generations pass, the surroundings of the river shift and the traditions of the Siberian-descended people – wither.

During her ‘odyssey’, the ties Claudine Doury patiently wove with the families and landscapes around the river translated into powerful and timeless images. Amour brings together her black and white and colour photographs with archival images, and reveals the photographer’s intimate and sensitive relationship with this territory and its history.

‘All they know is that in winter people arrive from the far north on reindeers to buy some bread, but not even the old men know what sort of people they are or where they come from.’

Anton Chekhov, The Island: A journey to Sakhalin, Washington Square Press, 1967

100% organic cotton limited edition of 200 « book bag » designed by Iris de Moüy to celebrate Chose Commune’s 5th anniversary.

For the fifth chapter of his project A Myth of Two Souls, Vasantha Yogananthan traveled to the coastline of Tamil Nadu, India, and Sri Lanka.

Howling Winds is the fifth chapter of Vasantha Yogananthan’s long-term project A Myth of Two Souls, which offers a contemporary retelling of The Ramayana. A seven-chapter tale first recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana is one of the founding epics of Hindu mythology and has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted through time.

Since 2013, Yogananthan has been travelling from north to south India to Sri Lanka, retracing the itinerary of the epic’s heroes. Between fiction and reality, he deliberately blurs the lines through multiple aesthetic approaches.

At the end of chapter 4, the wicked Ravana abducts Princess Sita. While Rama is in great distress, hundreds of thousands of animals from all around the world gather to search for Sita. They know that on the far shore of the ocean is the bright and shining island of Lanka, where Ravana is living.

Shot along the coastlines of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, Howling Winds mixes classic color photographs with acrylic hand-painted photographs to echo a world of magic.

A Myth of Two Souls will be published in seven photobooks between 2016-2020, one per chapter of the epic.

Nathalie du Pasquier’s objects become colourful and intriguing sculptures that break free from their functional reality.

The Coup de Crayon collection offers the artists in the fields of painting, drawing or collage a “carte blanche” to imagine a series as a book. “Andata Ritorno” is the second volume of the collection.

Nathalie Du Pasquier made the 50 drawings featured in Andata Ritorno in a short time-frame during summer 2018. This book is a captivating journey between reality and the imaginary as Du Pasquier presents everyday objects as transient sculptures next to intriguing geometric shapes that together create colourful and vibrant layouts.

Nathalie Du Pasquier was born in Bordeaux, France in 1957. She moves to Milan in 1979 and becomes one of the founding members of the Memphis Group. During those years, she designed numerous “decorated surfaces”: textiles, carpets, objects, furniture and patterns for other designers. Since 1987, her main focus and passion has been painting.

Iris de Moüy’s lines create worlds where playfulness meets poetry. Animals and humans coexist in a dream world.

The Coup de Crayon collection offers the artists in the fields of painting, drawing or collage a “carte blanche” to imagine a series as a book. “Do Insects Play” is the first volume of the collection.

With her open and spontaneous line, Iris de Moüy draws emotion. In “Horses Are Blue” she creates a world filled with mysterious creatures and extraordinary people. These whimsical figures encounter, dare and embrace across the pages, inspiring a letting go.

Iris de Moüy is an illustrator who lives and works in Paris. She is known for publishing children’s books with École des Loisirs and Hélium, and has undertaken assignments for brands including Le Bon Marché, Hermès, Bonpoint and Air France. Her drawings have been exhibited in Paris and Kyoto, where she was a resident at Villa Kujoyama in 2015.

A Myth of Two Souls is inspired by the epic tale The Ramayana. Drawing inspiration from the imagery associated with this myth and its pervasiveness in everyday Indian life, Vasantha Yogananthan is retracing the legendary route from north to south India. First recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted, and continues to evolve today. Yogananthan’s series is informed by the notion of a journey in time and offers a modern retelling of the tale.

A Myth of Two Souls is inspired by the epic tale The Ramayana. Drawing inspiration from the imagery associated with this myth and its pervasiveness in everyday Indian life, Vasantha Yogananthan is retracing the legendary route from north to south India. First recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted, and continues to evolve today. Yogananthan’s series is informed by the notion of a journey in time and offers a modern retelling of the tale.

A Myth of Two Souls is inspired by the epic tale The Ramayana. Drawing inspiration from the imagery associated with this myth and its pervasiveness in everyday Indian life, Vasantha Yogananthan is retracing the legendary route from north to south India. First recorded by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 BC, The Ramayana has been continuously rewritten and reinterpreted, and continues to evolve today. Yogananthan’s series is informed by the notion of a journey in time and offers a modern retelling of the tale.

Like a journal, Halfstory Halflife documents in black and white the happenings of a place where the local youth gather to challenge gravity and the expectations of life.

Over the course of multiple summers, Raymond Meeks has ventured the few miles from his rural home in the Catskill Mountain region of New York, to a single-lane bridge spanning the tributaries of Bowery and Catskill Creeks. Beneath the bridge, a waterfall drops sixty-feet over moss-covered limestone toward a forbidding pond. The local youth have come here from time immemorial, congregating near outcroppings and around a concrete altar – a remnant of an earlier stone bridge. Most allow themselves a brief running start before launching their pale bodies into the void, where tentative suggestions of flight mark the response to gravity. Taken collectively, their gestures allude to ritual, a prayerful response to the exigencies of budding sexuality and a future rife with uncertainty. Halfstory Halflife is a distillation of the photographs made in the shadows of these falls, marked each summer by the emergence of young adults perched at a precipice both in space and in their lives.

Raymond Meeks (b.1963 Ohio) lives and works in the Hudson Valley, New York.His pictures have been exhibited at galleries including Fotomuseum Den Haag (Holland), Candace Dwan in New York and Camera Obscura in Paris.  His work is housed in public and private collections including the Bibliothèque Nationale (France), The National Gallery of Art, George Eastman House and the Museum of Modern Art Library.  He is the co-founder of Orchard Journal and Dumbsaint and the author of over twenty-four commercially and self-published books.  His most recent collaborative journal, Township, (along with Tim Carpenter, Adrianna Ault and Brad Zellar) was nominated for the 2018 International Photobook Award at Kassel. Meeks is represented by Wouter van Leeuwen in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Alexandra Catiere was born in Minsk (USSR, now Belarus). She moved to Moscow in 2000 where she became interested in photography, which took her to New York in 2003 to study at the International Center of Photography (ICP). In 2005 she began working in the studio of Irving Penn. She came to Paris in 2008 where she now works and lives. In 2011, after a residency at the GwinZegal art centre in Guingamp, she was the first winner of the BMW Foundation residency prize at the Musée Nicéphore Niepce in Chalon-sur-Saône, and had an exhibition at the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles. Alexandra Catiere is among the 8 photographers nominated for the Prix Elysée 2018-2020.