IN THE BOOK, 87 PEOPLE appear wearing the same polyester shirt Morrissey wore, when The Smiths played live in Seinäjoki, Finland, in June 1984.
It was a special concert. It was probably the northest gig the band ever did, and also one of the few Smiths gigs Morrissey describes in detail in his Autobiography (2013): ”I recall standing at the lip of the stage as if dragged from a river, the microphone slipping out of my hand, and no one around to caution how rain and electricity are deadly components to the overheated flesh.”
Antti Nylén gave the shirt a new life, and photographed all those Morrissey fans (mostly Finnish) in August 2014, in Helsinki, on 35mm black and white film.
The portraits will make a book, which will – hopefully! – be released in the winter/spring of 2015.
The project comments on fandom, identity, and corporeality as central elements of the ‘Moz cult.’
Will any other living pop star actually inspire 87 people to do something this silly?
In addition, the book considers some more theoretical issues on photography in general, and film pohotography in particular, i.e. its alleged ability to ‘capture’ something of the thing being photographed. Morrissey’s old shirt evidently, somehow, ‘radiates,’ but will this radiation be seen in the pictures?
And whose shirt it actually is, now, after all?
THE TITLE OF THE BOOK IS Paita – The Shirt (it has a minimal amount of text, but everything will be in English too). The book will be published by Savukeidas.
A photo book is significantly more expensive to produce than a book containing text only. Because the author works with analog materials, the original photos (black and white silver gelatine prints) need to be digitally reproduced for the book. Tuomo-Juhani Vuorenmaa, a specialist in professional photography publishing, will take care of this.
Book design will be done by Jorma Hinkka, a graphic designer and a long-standing photographic art enthusiast.
YOU CAN FUND THE PROJECT and purchase the book in advance by pledging 45 € via Mesenaatti.me crowdfunding site. The book will be posted once it is published (in the winter/spring of 2015). The sum (45 €) includes VAT and postage to any country. This is the only funding option available to international funders.
If you live in Finland, you can choose other funding options too, which include postage to Finnish addressess.
By funding 25 € you get the book, but numbered (from 61 to 260) and signed by the author.
With 40 € you get the book (numbered from 41 to 60) and an email invitation to the book launch party, which will take place in Helsinki in 2015 (when the book is released).
By supporting us with 60 € or 75 € you will get the book (numbered from 1 to 20 and 21 to 40), and a series of colour photographs, hand made by the author in RA-4 colour process. The three 9×12 cm photos in the series are closeups of the Shirt itself, and the series are numbered from 1 to 40. The 75 € option includes an email invitation to the book launch party, which will take place in Helsinki in winter/spring of 2015.
Thank you for your interest!
The author’s short photo blog entry on the project
