Why this cover?
If you’ve been following some of the social media announcements over recent days, you’ll know that this is the image that will be on the cover of my upcoming book Physiotherapy Otherwise.
I wish I could say that it was chosen because I have a finely honed appreciation for photography, but the truth is my brother, Jon, recommended Melissa’s work. Jon teaches photography and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of photographers and their work. So when I asked him for some suggestions for the cover, Melissa’s work seemed an obvious choice.
This image, titled Group, comes from a series that Melissa did in Amsterdam. The photo is made on a roof of a parking lot, and the women are part of a dance group. Melissa asked the women to wear clothes that made them look the same so that it would be difficult to tell whose arms and legs belonged to whom.
The women appear to be knotted together: struggling, but also becoming one. They don’t fit perfectly together, and they appear to be fighting for their own space. And this felt like a perfect metaphor for the book as a whole.
The image touches on the idea of the subject; on what it is to be an individual, group dynamics, and the power of touch and movement.
Melissa’s work often touches on these themes. Her work explores the relationship between individuals and their environment through movement and gesture. The work is often created with a performative approach, aesthetically and conceptually exploring the border between staged and documentary photography.
You can see more of her work here.