Siri Kaur
‘Sistermoon’
by Siri Kaur, published by Void.
Artist Siri Kaur has been photographing her family for over 30 years, and her youngest sister, Simran, is the central focus of ‘Sistermoon’. Kaur’s photographs are combined with those from her family archive to create an unconventional album, illustrating the cycles of life and transformation, whilst questioning who observes, who is seen and who belongs.
Sistermoon
‘The passage of time is relentless, never ending, back and forth. The time that passes between us being born and having our own kids isn’t actually that long in the scheme of the universe, just a blink.’
Kaur’s biography informs her work. The book opens with a timeline of photographs from her mother’s traditional family, taken in the 1950s by her grandfather. Kaur herself was born into a cult—one image in the book depicts her parents’ wedding at the Happy Healthy Holy Organization, or 3HO, in 1976. After Kaur's family left the cult, her father established a rural living community in Vermont where her siblings remain today. Kaur simultaneously belonged to the family and was also an outsider. Her relationship with her family, in particular her sister, was formed and strengthened by creating photographs together. Photography enabled her to observe, catalogue, and connect.
“I remember when you were really little and I was a teenager, you would just look at me with complete and utter fascination because I had a woman’s body and you were a kid… I think for me when I was photographing you as a kid and young teenager, I had been through what you were experiencing not that long before. I remembered the feeling of my body growing and changing and I understood what was coming as you morphed from being a little kid into a woman.”
Siri Kaur
The images collectively form a freewheeling narrative with recurring family characters growing and transforming as the pages turn. Kaur’s use of landscape and the close relationship of nature embed a sense of magical spirituality in the images. A recurring motif of water and a cast of talismanic creatures—a horse, rabbit, owl, tiny snails, a frog—punctuate the portraits, hinting at fairytale tropes and the uncanny. Thresholds between childhood, adulthood, and motherhood are approached, observed, and pass. Universal experiences are shown through the frame of one family—made possible by the bond between two sisters.
‘It really also comes down to this way that I think we as sisters and artists here are trying to take the shame and take control of it ourselves. We are taking control of our own image. The control of it all is why I’m a photographer. You have a lot of trust in me and it’s one of the most meaningful relationships of my life.’
The Special Edition
Limited edition of 10
The ‘Sistermoon’ Special Edition by Siri Kaur is a limited release of just 10 copies, each accompanied by an archival Type C print hand-made by the artist. Printed on Fujifilm Crystal Archive paper, the image measures 15 x 23 cm (on 19 x 27 cm paper) and is signed and numbered by Siri Kaur. The edition includes 10 prints plus 2 artist’s proofs (APs). Each copy comes with the standard edition of the book ‘Sistermoon’, wrapped in a specially designed Riso-printed obi, and a certificate of authenticity — a great set for collectors and lovers of intimate photography alike.
Sistermoon
23,3 x 28,1 cm
160 pages
900 copies
Hardcover with silkscreen
ISBN 978-618-5479-43-5
Special Edition
Limited edition of 10 copies
With a fine art print numbered and signed by Siri Kaur
Archival Type C hand prints made by the artist
on Fujifilm Crystal Archive paper
Image size: 15 x 23 cm (Paper dimension: 19 x 27 cm)
Edition of 10 + 2 AP
+ Certificate of Authenticity
Siri Kaur
Siri Kaur is an artist and photographer who examines identities that occupy dualities, diversity, and contradiction. Originally from Maine, Kaur is currently based in Los Angeles. She received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and an MA and a BA from Smith College, Massachusetts. Her work has been exhibited widely at venues such as Aperture Foundation, New York; Camera Club of New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Portland Museum of Art; San Antonio Museum of Art; Vermont Center for Photography, amongst others. Her pictures and exhibitions have been reviewed in Artforum, Art ltd., Art Practical, Artillery, Double Blind Magazine, Flaunt, Granta, The Los Angeles Times, Musee Magazine, The New Yorker, Purple, Wallpaper*, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. She was a Professor of Fine Arts at Otis College of Art and Design from 2007-2018 and currently teaches at UCLA.
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GREECE, Void
PORTUGAL, Narrativa
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Photograph: Siri Kaur
Text: Siri Kaur
Edit, Design: João Linneu, Myrto Steirou
Printing: Jelgavas tipogrāfija
Binding: Jelgavas tipogrāfija
Language: English
Font: Aliénor Display Light by Lou Rainaldo and Anne-Dauphine Borione (Daytona Mess)
Siri Kaur © for the photographs and text
Void © for this edition