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DOM - Document Object Model (signed - last copy)

by Julia Borissova

Photographs: Julia Borissova

Publisher: Self published

48+20 pages

Year: 2014

Comments: Gatefold softcover, 15 x 20 cm, second edition 2016 (75 copies)

Rather less commercial in appearance is DOM (Document Object Model), a beautiful handmade book by Julia Borissova. Borissova won acclaim for her 2012 found-imagery work, Running to the Edge. Her new project, DOM – which means ‘house’ in Russian – is quite different in nature. ‘For this project, I wanted to “grow” an image,’ she explains. ‘My idea was to create a utopian version of sprouting houses which I removed from their usual context and placed in other settings. After that I grew the plants in the models and watched as they were germinating. I took photographs to capture the variations in their appearance, thinking about how our concept of home changes over time. The particular type of the houses shown in the series are called Khruschyovka, which were built in the era of Khrushchev. He was the first to introduce mass housing to Russia. Economy-class houses of this kind were built in a number of other European countries, as well as Japan. The construction of these houses continued from 1959 to 1985. As of today, they account for 10 per cent of the total housing stock of the former Soviet Union. Now they are going to be demolished. Nobody admires them – on the contrary, they arouse only censure. The main complaint against them is about their size and the fact that they are very cold in the winter. But a lot of Russian people still live in these houses. I decided that they deserved to be the heroes of my project.’“

Best Photobooks Lists:

Book DOM has been selected as one of ten favorite publications of the year by Sarah Bodman, senior research fellow at UWE Bristol's Centre for Fine Print Research and writer of a-n's Artists' Books

Awards & Fellowship:

Kassel Dummy Award 2018 - shortlist

The Second Triennial INFOCUS Exhibition of Photo Books Exhibition, December 2, 2016 - April 9, 2017

The book's space on International Festival of Rome 2015

The Athens Photo Festival 2015

Little big press > The book’s space, 3/3

Reviews, links & publications:

Positiiv magazine (Estonia), Colta.ru

The interview at 3/3 for the exhibition “The book’s space”

Frame Publishers

josefchladek.com

Expert Photobook Review

Collections: The library of Art Institute of Chicago, Art Museum of Estonia library,

Indie Photobook Library, The Library Project (Ireland)

More books by Julia Borissova

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more books tagged »handmade« | >> see all

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look inside

DOM - Document Object Model (signed - last copy)

by Julia Borissova

Photographs: Julia Borissova

Publisher: Self published

48+20 pages

Year: 2014

Comments: Gatefold softcover, 15 x 20 cm, second edition 2016 (75 copies)

Rather less commercial in appearance is DOM (Document Object Model), a beautiful handmade book by Julia Borissova. Borissova won acclaim for her 2012 found-imagery work, Running to the Edge. Her new project, DOM – which means ‘house’ in Russian – is quite different in nature. ‘For this project, I wanted to “grow” an image,’ she explains. ‘My idea was to create a utopian version of sprouting houses which I removed from their usual context and placed in other settings. After that I grew the plants in the models and watched as they were germinating. I took photographs to capture the variations in their appearance, thinking about how our concept of home changes over time. The particular type of the houses shown in the series are called Khruschyovka, which were built in the era of Khrushchev. He was the first to introduce mass housing to Russia. Economy-class houses of this kind were built in a number of other European countries, as well as Japan. The construction of these houses continued from 1959 to 1985. As of today, they account for 10 per cent of the total housing stock of the former Soviet Union. Now they are going to be demolished. Nobody admires them – on the contrary, they arouse only censure. The main complaint against them is about their size and the fact that they are very cold in the winter. But a lot of Russian people still live in these houses. I decided that they deserved to be the heroes of my project.’“

Best Photobooks Lists:

Book DOM has been selected as one of ten favorite publications of the year by Sarah Bodman, senior research fellow at UWE Bristol's Centre for Fine Print Research and writer of a-n's Artists' Books

Awards & Fellowship:

Kassel Dummy Award 2018 - shortlist

The Second Triennial INFOCUS Exhibition of Photo Books Exhibition, December 2, 2016 - April 9, 2017

The book's space on International Festival of Rome 2015

The Athens Photo Festival 2015

Little big press > The book’s space, 3/3

Reviews, links & publications:

Positiiv magazine (Estonia), Colta.ru

The interview at 3/3 for the exhibition “The book’s space”

Frame Publishers

josefchladek.com

Expert Photobook Review