FALSE FRIENDS - Signed

€48.00

In a world of ‘alternative facts’ & ‘cognitive dissonance’ Turner’s photographs play with the idea of information voids & misunderstandings, inviting us to explore the shadows and obfuscations of a familiar, yet not quite recognisable world. Embedded within each photograph is a deep sense of ambiguity which gently challenges the viewer to reassess their own interpretation & calls into question the imposition of our own personal subjectivity on the world around us.

“There are those who would have us believe that the scariest of monsters dwell in the shadows & that we must be on permanent guard. I prefer to think that, while always striving to increase our understanding of the world, we can acknowledge and accept the things we do not know and bathe in the soothing powers of the shade.”

Turner’s work has a tactile, almost ethereal quality, which stems from his fastidious and experimental approach to the process of image making. These are images that are deeply ponderous in nature & often require repeated viewings which reveal the subtle details that unlock the work.

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Title - False Friends, Artist - Dominic Turner, Designer - Duncan Whyte, Printing - Optimal-Media, Year - 2023, Binding - Hardback, Edition - 750, Pages - 112, Plates - 51, Dimensions - 285 x 235 x 18mm, Weight - 750g, ISBN - 978 1 73948 380 7

* P r e s s / R e v i e w s *

AMERICAN SUBURB X

”… an incredible book of darkly-tuned images that sit adjacent to the work of Jungjin Lee but with a different nod toward the subject matter.”

”Dissolve is a keyword when consulting Turner’s works. They fall apart into something like a decayed sublime in their reading but hold together just enough to shape wonder and fascination.”

”One of the most rounded books I have seen from a relative newcomer. It is a refreshing movement toward an enlightened form of bookmaking that has been shelved for too long—highest Recommendation.”

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ASX review by Brad Feuerhelm

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THE PHOTOBOOK JOURNAL

”Most importantly, we are reminded that we create our own monsters, whether in the shadow or exposed to the light, to be seen for what they really are. (Turner) has achieved this monumental task, engaging his viewer by provoking the imagination, deep monochromatic moods rich in granular textured features, allowing us to explore and find the path to our internal truth.”

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PhotoBook Journal - The Contemporary PhotoBook Magazine. Review by Bill Edwards.

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BLAKE ANDREWS

”Turner’s debut monograph collects a variety of b/w photographs into a handsome hardback (with mysterious cover graphic 🤷‍♂️). He’s a master printer in his native Dublin, a fact that becomes immediately apparent in the book’s production choices. “I’ve always been fascinated by the dark,” he writes in black ink on a paper stock so tenebrous it’s barely readable. The monochromes are printed downscale accordingly, with deep shadows pooling across skeletal compositions. Book signatures are separated by double spreads on darkly tinted color stock. The combination of uncoated paper and high contrast tonality—most images are textured with film grain—feels closer to photogravure than traditional silver. Or, to put it in book terms, these pictures remind me of Jungjin Lee’s rice paper photographs published in book form by Nazraeli.

Turner’s subject matter ranges widely. There are elemental landscapes, human artifacts, roads, interiors, and people. It all feels a bit cosmic, especially when formally composed and nocturnally shaded. Many could pass unnoticed in R. Gibson’s Somnambulist or J. Langer’s Secret City. The title False Friends comes from the French phrase Faux Amis, referring to words in two languages which sound similar but mean different things. Of course photography specializes in just such a trick. The conflation of the world with its 2D translation is the source of endless intrigue and some confusion. When photographers lean intentionally away from reality, it only heightens the effect. “I began to see shadows,” Turner explains his removal,”—those little pockets of darkness which surround us daily—as metaphors for the absences of knowledge we all possess to some degree.” The result is book that goes well with the current dark season.”

From Instagram review -
@swerdnaekalb

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LEIRE ETXAZARRA (Cartier-Bresson no es un reloj)

”5 reasons to love ‘False Friends’ by Dominic Turner”

See video review (Spanish language)
@leiremiska

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PHOTO ART BOOKS

”This is a fantastic book that stands out not only for its exquisite printing and choice of paper, but also for its beautiful, poetic and mysterious black and white images .”

”Perhaps it is still early, but we venture to predict that it could become one of our favorite photobooks of this year 2024.”

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Exploring the unknown: Dominic Turner and his photobook “False Friends” by Mireia Alises

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THE INDEPENDENT PHOTOGRAPHER

”In an increasingly binary and polarized world, where information is but a touch away, yet in many ways, truth is increasingly difficult to discern, ‘False Friends’ stands as a fascinating body of work that compels us to consider the things we know to be real.It is a powerful example of abstract visual storytelling that is at once visually arresting, intriguing, and, for the writer of this review at least, somewhat disquieting.”

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By Elizabeth Khan

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COLLECTOR DAILY

”This is a photo book filled with shadows and mysteries, not in an overly precious or cloying manner, but in a way that leverages Turner’s strengths into an aesthetic that can be his own. In his afterword, Turner alludes to “the soothing powers of the shade”, but I’m not sure I felt the same comfort in his darkness; instead, I liked the applied ambiguity of each and every scene, where Turner’s control of the darkness is a powerful amplifier (or destabilizer) of mood and atmosphere. To my eye, False Friends is consistently just a bit unnerving, which is exactly what makes it so smart and memorable.”

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By Loring Knoblauch