Published in bookstores on June 22nd, 2022

Khamsa khamsa khamsa—“five” in Arabic, repeated three times like a protective incantation—is an autobiographical visual narrative in the form of a family archive. At first glance, it is where Julia Gat tells the story of her childhood and adolescence growing up with four brothers and sisters educated by alternative teaching methods. However, underneath images that look like a family album, a photographer’s writing emerges. Julia Gat tells her story by gradually defining how she sees the faces and growing bodies of those around her, sometimes in peaceful Mediterranean landscapes.

Portraits of friends and domestic scenes punctuate the work, which is structured around five protagonists: sisters Sara and Nina, brothers Michael and Jonathan, and Julia, the fifth sibling, who projects herself onto them behind her lens. “When I was ten, I promised myself never to forget how children see the world,” she says. “Everything’s new. Imagination blends in with reality and the unknown is exciting.” Documenting her everyday life is the running thread of the artist’s work, allowing her to connect the adult photographer to her childhood sensibility.

Two eponymous exhibitions will take place at la Croisière and la Galerie Huit from July 4th to September 26th during the Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles 2022.

[Actes Sud] Beaux-Arts
Beaux livres / Monographies
48 vues

June, 2022
20.00 x 30.00cm
48 pages
ISBN: 978-2-330-16562-8
Indicative price: 22.00€