Jab, hook, upper cut. Learning to fight. The distraction and the incentive of a beautiful boxing coach. Fantasies of great victories, the challenge to stay focused, moves learnt to gain confidence in the world.
A short piece remembering my first boxing lessons, alongside 15 full-colour photographs. The images capture the physical closeness of the boxing match, the eroticism of contact sports; the size of the photobook is intimate enough to hold in the palm of the hand.
"On a good day, twenty minutes is all I can manage. Sometimes twenty seconds is a triumph. I worry that Im no good... What made me think Id ever be able to box? And yet. And yet. Every now and then I get into a groove and everything disappears except the writing, I mean the boxing. Nothing else matters. One moment youre at point a, then youre at point b and it feels like a miracle; you have no memory of how you got there!" ( extract from You the Boxer)
You the Boxer is the second photobook in the One-a-Month challenge I've set myself, starting 1st October 2016. The first of every month, until the 1st of September 2017, I will launch a new photobook. The project marks the return to my love of photography.
Edition of 100
Hand-stitched, 15 colour images in concertina fold attached to 14 pages of text.
Printed on 130gsm silk paper.
105mm x 75mm (opens to approx 495mm), 4" x 3" (opens to approx 19.5")
