220 × 280 mm / 160 pages
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A phantom island is an island whose existence has been accepted for a certain period of time (sometimes centuries) and has been mentioned on maps, but which has subsequently been removed because it has been proven not to be real. There are many possible explanations for these geographical fictions: geopolitical and economic interests, cartographic copyrights, rumours, memes, hoaxes, legends, and more. These phantom islands have never physically existed, but they have had a real impact on the Western world, some even triggering conflicts or civil wars.
Six years ago, Stéphanie Roland began researching these islands during her travels and visits to geographical institutes. Over time, she has collected a great deal of material, and produced a series of experiments and works exploring this ghostly world, made up of images and videos that reflect the visual paradoxes of these entities.
Isles of Seven Cities contains the stories of Eon Island, Hy-Brasil Island, Aurora Island, Antilia, Isle of Demons, Island of California, and Podesta Island. The book is not a monograph, but rather an artist’s book – a hybrid edition that combines the visual and textual narratives of these seven phantom islands. Fictional and real archives meet in a non-linear, fragmented logic, as a meta-island emerges from the whole, questioning the complex perception of reality in a post-truth era.
Concept and photography: Stéphanie Roland
Design: Rob van Hoesel
Lithography: Sebastiaan Hanekroot (Colour & Books)
Production: Jos Morree (Fine Books)
Collections
Stedelijk Museum
— Ghostwriter library
Publisher: Stéphanie Roland Studio / Orion éditions / Finis Terrae
110 × 175 mm / 154 pages
10 euros (+ delivery fee)
To order, write to
info@stephanieroland.be
This atypical edition explores the world of fiction, and more importantly, the people behind it. Sometimes writing under a false name, other times penning for others, these authors are known as ghostwriters. Here, the artist has asked ten ghostwriters to contribute a short story about this invisible profession, from behind the scenes.
Concept and edition: Stéphanie Roland
Design: Studio Otamendi
With the support of
Programmes Mondes Nouveaux
Ministère de la culture
Plan de relance
EU Next Generation
— Aphotic zone
Publisher: Stéphanie Roland Studio
220 × 280 mm
White cardboard box / 5 sikscreen prints produced with a mixture of photochromic ink and bacteria colonies
Signed certificate of authenticity
24 editions + 1 a.e.
50 euros (+ delivery fee)
To order, write to
info@stephanieroland.be
These images, which are rare and extremely difficult to create, are views of oceanic viruses living in extremely deep and completely dark areas of the ocean. Here, they were printed using an ink that reacts to the amount of light received. When exposed to light periodically, the prints reveal themselves before falling back into the hermetic invisibility of this space. A colony of bacteria has been incorporated into the ink, imperceptibly transforming the image throughout the exhibition. This piece gives an insight into an infinitely small and invisible living world.
Technical expertise: Cambyse Naddaf
Silkscreen: Nicolas Belayew
With the support of
Vecteur, Charleroi
Futur pour la culture, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
— Event Horizon / L’horizon des événements
Publisher: The Eriskay Connection
215 × 300 mm / 96 pages
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Event Horizon depicts these children as well as their ‘mental images’. Visions of the future, disturbing memories and strange dreams from the subconscious. The book’s stream of images is only interrupted by deep blue pages, containing nothing more than ascending dates. Are we are looking at the past from a distant future? Or do we see the aftermaths of unknown events?
With a taste for anticipation, Roland creates a slightly menacing cosmos, a singular world where a magic ball can become an unidentified planet, a horse floats in the night sky and an astronaut is lost on a construction site. Both utopian and dystopian at the same time, this project has become a playfield of multiple photographic experiments.
Award
- Unseen Dummy Award
Collections
- Tate Modern
- FOMU, FotoMuseum, Anvers
- Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi
- Le Fresnoy – studio National des Arts Contemporains, France
- Artist Book Collection (C.L.A.), Brussels
- Vecteur, Charleroi
- Bavarian State Library (manuscripts and rare books library)
- University of Bergen Library
- Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Belgian platform for Photobooks, Antwerp
Concept and photography: Stéphanie Roland
Design: Rob van Hoesel
Lithography: Sebastiaan Hanekroot (Colour & Books)
Production: Jos Morree (Fine Books)
Print: Wilco Art Books (NL)
Binding: Brepols (BE)