Being There (Éditions Textuel) is the fruit of a jubilant collaboration: Lee Shulman, creator of The Anonymous Project, invited Senegalese self-portraitist Omar Victor Diop to slip into the anonymous photographs in his collection of American slides from the 1950s and 1960s. These are images of ordinary celebrations, in which privileged white middle-class families are seen posing at the table to celebrate a birthday, at the beach, in the middle of a barbecue or in front of their gleaming pavilion. In this way, Diop intrudes into worlds to which he was not invited, in the context of post-war segregated America, as if he had always been part of the setting. Shulman and Diop propose a new way of stirring minds and questioning representations, with humor. Their performance functions as an eye-opener.

See you Thursday, October 12 from 6pm for the launch of Being there and a meeting-signing with Omar Victor Diop and Lee Schulman!

Book available for pre-order and signed shipment after October 12.