Martine Syms / PICTURES, 2014–2024

PICTURES, 2014-2024 is a 550-page collection of works by LA-based American artist Martine Syms, the result of the artist's 10-year research into images.
 Working across video, installation, publications and performance, Sims' work is characterised by sharp observations that examine representations, impositions and performances of Black and gender identity, delivering social commentary with a touch of radical humour.
 The distinction between reality and fiction becomes blurred in this book, as the narrative unfolds from a variety of contradictory demands: personal photographs, self-portraits, cinematic and environmental scenes capturing the artist's perspective, exhibition documentation, and research images.
 Artist Profile
 Martine Sims (b. 1988, Los Angeles, California) received her MFA from Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, New York) (2017) and her BFA from The School of Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois) (2007). Sims is widely known for her work, which blends conceptual grit, humor, and social commentary. Combining video, installation, and performance, and often interweaving technical and narrative explorations, Sims examines representations of Blackness and its relationship to vernacular, feminist, and radical traditions. Sims' research-based work frequently references theoretical models of performed and imposed identities, the power of gesture, and deeply ingrained notions of gender and racial inequality, particularly in the context of representations of the self.
 Climax Books presents PICTURES, 2014–2024, a new 550-page tome from Martine Syms, surveying 10 years of images produced by the American artist.
 Martine Syms' practice, comprising most strikingly moving image, installation, publishing and performance, is characterized by acute observations examining imposed and performed identities, and representations of Blackness and gender, offering social commentary imbued with radical humour.

 In this new book, designed by Paige Hansard, narratives unfold from the conflicting demands of personal photographs, self-portraits, cinematic and ambient scenes capturing the artist's gaze, exhibition documentation and research imagery, as distinctions between reality and fiction are blurred.
 Publisher: Climax Books
 Publication year: 2024
 Number of pages: 556
 Size: 230 x 165 mm
 Format: Softcover
 Language: English
 Accessories:
 Condition: New
 First Edition of 1500 copies