LIPS THAT WOULD KISS [2009]
A series based on the life of Ian Curtis
23 photographs – Lightjet RA4 digital prints, 49 x 63 cm/19.3 x 24.8 inches
(image : 30 x 45 cm/11.8 x 17.7 inches)
Book (special edition) published by Bartleby & Co., Brussels (BE), 2011
Text by Julie Cortella
« A KIND OF JOURNEY TO AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION* » – Ian Curtis, 15.07.1956-18.05.1980
FR/ En janvier 2009, nous fîmes le voyage pour Manchester. L’un en photographe, l’autre en écrivain. Tous deux animés d’un même but : explorer ce que pouvait bien contenir pour nous ce nom de « Ian Curtis ». Le filet avec lequel il s’agissait de capturer quelque chose de ce nom s’est alors constitué de la trame de la ville et du fil tissé par les parcours probables de Curtis. Les deux éléments se sont au retour conjugués de manière plus systématique sous la forme d’un vis-à-vis photographie-texte, lequel ne prétend à rien d’hagiographique (aucune documentation d’éventuelles traces), mais tend bien plutôt à permettre que se forme une surface propre aux projections anonymes.
JC & BG
EN/ In January 2009, we went to Manchester. One of us as a photographer, the other as a writer, the same goal in mind : to find out what the name ‘Ian Curtis’ really meant for us. The urban backdrop of the city and the thread of our explorations through areas linked to Curtis’ life created the net we cast to capture something of his name. On our return, the two things became even more bonded by the vis-à-vis of photography and text, which in no way is meant to be hagiographic (we did not intend to retrace his footsteps) but aspires much more to being a blank screen for anonymous projections.
JC & BG
* Ian Curtis to Annik Honoré, Letter (25th February 1980).
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It is like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone
From The Hollow Men (1925), by T.S. Eliot. Written on a postcard from Ian Curtis to Annik Honoré, February 1980.
Lips That Would Kiss (Form Prayers To Broken Stone) is also a song by Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column dedicated to Ian Curtis.
EP Factory Benelux/Crépuscule-FACBN 2-005
